Award Description
NOTE: We are not currently recruiting for this fellowship.
The Marcus Fellowship in Speech Science and Engineering is a two-year predoctoral research fellowship designed to prepare graduate-level engineers and linguists for entry into a doctoral degree, leading either to an academic career in speech science and engineering, or to a clinical career in speech-language pathology and communication disorders.
The main focus of the training program is early vocal development in the first years of life in children at risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as part of a broader interdisciplinary research program mapping out the development and derailment of spoken communication in early childhood.
Fellows will receive training in all areas of speech science relevant to their goals, including speech production and speech perception. They will also receive training in relevant areas of signal processing, including sampling theory, spectral analysis, and stochastic processes, as well as speech analysis, synthesis, and recognition. Practical training will involve computer programming (Matlab, C, Labview), software engineering, hardware design, and construction of laboratory equipment where needed. Additional training will also be provided in experimental design, data acquisition, data analysis, statistics, preparation of publications, grant writing, human subject research, and bioethics. Fellows will have the opportunity to observe clinical assessments of patients with ASD and related developmental disabilities in the clinic.
Each fellow will design and implement a research project of their own under the direct mentorship of the program director and will be expected to present their results at one or more national or international conferences.
Sponsor Institution: Marcus Autism Center, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Emory University School of Medicine
Program Director: Gordon Ramsay
For more information on the Faculty at the Marcus Autism Center, visit our website.
Award Amount
$38,000 in the first year, $39,000 in the second year (with full healthcare coverage across both years)
Eligibility
College graduates who will have received a bachelor's degree by the start of the fellowship are eligible to apply.
The Marcus Fellowship provides an opportunity to engage in translational research within a clinical setting. Candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds with an interest in electronic engineering, computer science, mathematics, speech science, linguistics, communication disorders or infant development are encouraged to apply. Previous experience with computer programming or experience with infants and toddlers or children with autism are not required, but are certainly valued by the selection committee.
Please note that this fellowship is not offered concurrently with graduate studies. However, for fellows leaving the program, we do hope that the fellowship will serve as an important stepping-stone towards future career goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Please refer to the FAQ page for questions regarding this fellowship and the How to Apply page for more information on application.
Research at the Marcus Autism Center
Marcus Autism Center is the largest center for clinical care of children with ASD and their families in the US, seeing more than 5,000 patients per year. The center also works in partnership with Emory National Primate Research Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Georgia Institute of Technology. These partnerships enable a multidisciplinary and translational approach to ASD research, spanning projects in behavioral neuroscience, neuroimaging, molecular and population genetics, and treatment.
The directors of the fellowship program lead the social neuroscience, spoken communication, and neuroimaging research cores within Marcus Autism Center. These research cores use eye-tracking technology, neuroimaging, computational modeling, and behavioral neuroscience methods to better understand the causes and developmental mechanisms underlying ASD and to develop new tools to improve early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of ASD.
For additional questions, please contact the Marcus Fellowship Committee at marcus.predoc-fellowships@emory.edu or (404) 785-9554.