Our Team

Emily Kemp

Emily Kemp is a Research Project Manager for the ARCCH lab. She earned her Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Professional Writing in May 2025 from The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she was able to work as a research assistant, a teaching assistant, and as a co-producer/screenwriter on a documentary. She obtained her BA in International Studies in 2022 from UTC as well. She will be assisting with research in healthy aging and neurorehabilitation and is interested in how speech and language can be useful tools in this research.  

Sidney Ritter

Sidney Ritter is a Research Study Coordinator for the ARCCH Lab. Following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 2015, she brings more than a decade of lived experience with brain injury and recovery to her work. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Washington State University. Sidney integrates her academic training with firsthand insight into the cognitive, sensory, and functional effects of brain injury. Having experienced St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute both as a patient and later as a therapy aid and companion volunteer, she brings a valuable survivor’s perspective to research and patient support. Sidney is passionate about disability advocacy, migraine awareness, and advancing accessible systems of care.

Sarah Mortensen

Sarah is a first-year graduate student in Speech & Hearing Sciences at Washington State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Biola University in Los Angeles, California, in 2025.

Sarah is a member of the ARCCH Lab, where her research focuses on the lived experiences of individuals with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). Her current project is in collaboration with “Unmasking Brain Injury” and “Hind’s Feet Farm”. The goal of her research is to examine how ongoing participation in community engagement, particularly through art-based methods, influences long-term identity, social participation, and quality of life in adults living with ABI, compared to adults with ABI who do not engage in community-based support. Her research aims to inform the development of community programs, rehabilitation practices, and future research centered on long-term recovery and quality of life after ABI.

Following graduation, Sarah plans to work with adults with cognitive-communication disorders and swallowing impairments.

Daria Hernandez

Daria is a Research Assistant for the ARCCH at Washington State University. She is a year-one graduate student at Washington State University in Speech and Hearing Sciences. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Disorders at the University of Central Florida, where she completed an Honors Undergraduate Thesis in her major. Her focus was on Accessibility, Readability, Comprehension and Implementation of IDEA Terminology for Spanish-speaking parents who read IEP documentation. Through this experience, she fell in love with research and brings this passion into current projects at WSU, where she will be handling data analysis concerning cognitive-communication patterns in adult neurogenic disorders, in hopes to generate and implement precise treatment strategies to improve patient outcomes. Daria hopes to graduate and practice Speech Language Pathology in a medical/lab setting following graduation. Her passions include calling on for equitable access to services and better patient care for underserved communities.

Olivia Amato

Wadood Kahn

Anne Seim

Averey Siedel

Kenzie Simpson

Sophia Butterly

Post-bachelor student; graduated May 2025

Madi Baller

Graduate student; graduated May 2026

Hannah Rae Tjelle

Graduate student; graduated May 2026

Janelle Wilson

Graduate student; graduated May 2026