CU Linguistics聽alumna Dr. Vicky T. Lai will join聽the faculty of聽the University of Arizona in Fall 2016 as an Assistant Professor of聽Psychology and the Cognitive Science. Dr. Lai received the joint PhD in Linguistics and聽Cognitive Science at聽CU in 2009, writing her thesis, "Understanding Metaphorical Expressions: Conventionality, Mappings, and Comparison Processes",聽under CU Linguistics聽Associate Professor Bhuvana Narasimhan. She then conducted postdoctoral research聽in the Neurobiology of Language department at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and in聽the聽Language, Concepts, and the Brain聽laboratory at the聽McCausland Center for Brain Imaging,聽Department of Psychology at the聽University of聽South Carolina. Dr. Lai's research uses behavioral measures (pointing,聽reaction times) and聽neuroscience methods, including聽EEG and聽fMRI,聽to study figurative language, the interaction of language and聽thought, and the relationship between language and emotion.聽