From Data to Dialogue: How My Research Journey Connects to Consulting

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been selected to join Professor Zenzi Griffin’s Cognition and Communication Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. The lab studies language production—how our minds plan and generate speech in real time. Research ranges from the timing of speech planning to how people learn proper names and how multilingual experiences shape communication.

At first glance, this work might sound very different from consulting. But the more I think about it, the more I see strong connections.

Consulting is fundamentally about understanding people and organizations, asking the right questions, and delivering insights that drive action. In the Cognition and Communication Lab, I’ll be doing something very similar:

Analyzing data to uncover patterns in human behavior.

Designing and running studies to test hypotheses and generate evidence.

Interpreting findings in ways that make sense of complex processes.

This role comes shortly after I was accepted into UT’s new Behavioral Social Data Science (BSDS) major, which emphasizes using data science to understand human behavior and social systems. Together, the lab and the BSDS program are giving me hands-on training in data analytics, problem-solving, and structured communication—the same skills that consultants use when working with clients.

For me, this isn’t just about contributing to research. It’s also about learning how to bridge data and human insight—a bridge that’s just as essential in research as it is in consulting.

I’m looking forward to carrying these experiences forward, whether in the lab, the classroom, or ultimately, in the consulting world.