Education
2004 Ph.D. Psychology. Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, UK. Advisor: Nick Chater.
1999 B.A. (Laurea, Summa cum laude). Linguistics and Translation Studies, SSLMIT, Universita` di Bologna, Italy.
Professional Experience
2008- Assistant Professor, Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawaii
2008- Director, Center for Second Language Research, University of Hawaii
2006-2008 Research Associate, Department of Psychology, Cornell University
2003-2006 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, Cornell University
1998-1999 Teaching Assistant of Italian, Lycée St. Exupéry, Marseille, France
Main awards and grants
Pending Onnis, L. & Spivey, M., Perceptual simulations in second language learners. National Science Foundation.
2009-2010 Onnis, L. (PI), Phonotactic cues to categorical perception in first and second language speakers. Language Learning Small Grants Program ($10,000).
2006-2008 Onnis, L. (PI), Spivey, M.J., Christiansen, M.H., Semantic valence tendencies in monolingual and bilingual sentence comprehension. National Institutes of Health ($158,000 over two years).
2008-2013* Onnis, L. (PI), Understanding developmental language disorders: A cognitive science approach. European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants Award, Euros600,000. *Declined for incompatibility with current US position.
2002 Onnis, L., Pine, J., and Jones, G.: £3,000 grant from the British Psychological Society for organizing a three-day international workshop on the CHILDES database.
1999-2003 Graduate Research Assistant for EU Networks of Excellence project Basic mechanisms of learning and forgetting with Nick Chater.