Kristina T. Johnson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering and Communication Sciences & Disorders

Dr. Kristina (Kristy) Johnson is an Assistant Professor, jointly appointed in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering and the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders in the Bouve College of Health Sciences. She directs the Neurodevelopmental Dynamics (NDD) Lab.

Dr. Johnson is a multi-disciplinary researcher whose work lies at the intersection of engineering, neuroscience, computer science, communication sciences, and autism research. She is especially passionate about advancing science and technology for individuals with complex neurodevelopmental differences, including rare genetic disorders, intellectual disabilities, and absent or limited spoken speech. She specializes in personalized naturalistic studies, human-computer interaction, digital healthcare, wearable sensors, and augmentative communication technology.

Isaac Bevers, B.S.

Isaac is a Computer Engineering PhD student focused on human-centered machine learning. His interests also include robotics and complex systems. Before starting his PhD, he worked at MIT on audio machine learning and open-source software projects. He earned a B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford.

Isaac joined the lab in August 2025.

Siddhant Bikram Shah, B.S.

Siddhant is a PhD candidate in Computer Engineering. He works as a Research Assistant in the NDD Lab, focusing on applying machine learning to problems in neuroscience and affective computing. Specifically, he focuses on nonverbal vocalization analysis, naturalistic home video processing, and applied MLLM research.

Miranda Kannisto

Miranda is a fourth-year behavioral neuroscience undergraduate at Northeastern. She is incredibly interested in how neurodevelopmental disorders affect cognitive development, especially focusing on language and speech. She began working in the lab as a co-op student and has since received a PEAK award in Spring 2025 to continue research. After graduation, she hopes to earn her master’s in speech pathology to provide care for children with expressive language disorders.

Miranda joined the NDD Lab in July 2024.

Rita Khoury, B.S.

Rita is a second-year Speech-Language Pathology graduate student at Northeastern. She is passionate about understanding and supporting individuals with neurodevelopment disorders, particularly in the areas of language acquisition and communication interventions. She hopes to apply her knowledge and experience to clinical practice, helping individuals enhance their communication skills and overall quality of life.

Rita joined the NDD Lab in September 2024.

Sabina Laurino, B.S.

Sabina is one of the Lab Managers at the NDD Lab. Her work is centered around supporting strength-based, individualized communication measures and augmentative technology for minimally/non-speaking individuals with complex neurodevelopmental disorders. Before the NDD lab, she worked as a project coordinator for the Center for Autism Research Excellence at Boston University and graduated from Clemson University in 2022. In the future, she plans to pursue a Master’s (or PhD!) in Speech-Language Pathology and merge her clinical and research passions to develop and disseminate innovative alternative augmentative communication technology.

Sabina joined the NDD Lab in June 2025.

Brynn Siles, B.A.

Brynn graduated from Boston University in 2023 with a B.A. in Neuroscience. She currently serves as Lab Manager at the NDD Lab. She also manages the Language Acquisition and Brain Lab (QLAB) under Dr. Zhenghan Qi. Her work focuses on longitudinal studies of communication development in autistic children and minimally/non-speaking individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. Her primary interests include early childhood language development and early intervention strategies for children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. She plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with the goal of becoming a pediatric neuropsychologist.

Brynn joined the NDD Lab in June 2025.

Emma McGonigle, B.S.

Emma is a first-year Educational and School Psychology graduate student at Northeastern. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Science at Northeastern in 2025, studying Psychology and Music. She is particularly interested in the intersection of mental health care access and assessment and intervention innovation, with a focus on children’s psychology and neurodevelopmental differences. Emma began working with Dr. Johnson in December 2022 and joined the NDD Lab at its inception in September 2023.

Amal Mathew, M.S.

Amal completed his master’s degree in Computer Science in August 2024 and was a Research Assistant in both the Neurodevelopmental Dynamics (NDD) Lab and the Augmented Cognition Lab with Dr. Sarah Ostadabbas. He specializes in computer vision and deep learning, focusing on medical imaging and infant safety. His work lies at the intersection of computer vision and healthcare. Amal has tackled a wide range of computer vision projects, holding key positions at Light Force Orthodontics and Omdena Inc. 

Emine Arcasoy, B.S.

Emine holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Global Health from Duke University. She worked as a clinical research coordinator at Boston Children’s Hospital from June 2021 – September 2024, specifically focused on natural history studies and clinical trials for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome. Emine supported ROSCO Study with the NDD Lab.

Rachel Barume

Rachel is a third-year student Computer Engineering student at Northeastern University.

Rachel joined the NDD Lab in September 2024.

Bianca Booth, B.S.

Bianca supported the ROSCO study through the collaboration between Northeastern and BCH in her role as a clinical research assistant at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) in the Department of Neurology and the Rosamund Stone Zander Translational Neuroscience Center.

Bianca joined the NDD Lab in February 2024.

Isabelle Iannotti, B.A.

Isabelle earned a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Boston University. She is passionate about patient care and supported neurology, epilepsy, and neurodevelopmental research at Boston Children’s Hospital, where she worked for two years. During this time, she also supported the ROSCO study with the NDD Lab. Isabelle is now pursuing an accelerated nursing program at Northeastern University (Summer 2024).

Tsambika Rizas, B.S.

Tsambika completed her Pre-Med degree in Behavioral Neuroscience at Northeastern University in 2025. Tsambika is passionate about neurology and cognitive development. She plans to attend medical school, specializing in pediatric neurology and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Tsambika joined the NDD Lab in January 2024.

Abhishek Uddaraju, B.S.

Abhishek is an MS Robotics student at Northeastern University. He works on developing analysis methods for computer vision data and designing data pipelines for extracting information from naturalistically collected data samples. He focuses on leveraging machine learning and computer vision to analyze facial expressions in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, aiming to improve affective computing tools for this population. Through his work, he hopes to contribute to more inclusive and effective technologies that support communication and emotional understanding in neurodiverse individuals.

Abhi joined the NDD Lab in July 2024.