NCB Alumni Spotlight: Katie Eulau's Journey from Speech Pathology to Developmental Science
During her time as a behavioral neuroscience major at the University of San Diego, Katie Eulau ’15 (BA) built the foundation for the research career she is pursuing today as a fifth-year PhD student in developmental psychology.
After graduating from USD Eulau earned a master's degree in speech pathology. Her daily work as a speech-language pathologist deepened her curiosity about the mechanisms behind early communication, ultimately drawing her back to academia. After practicing clinically for four years, she found that each client interaction felt like an unfolding research question, and so returned to her roots in psychology.
Eulau’s academic trajectory and the methodological approaches she continues to use are influences from her early work with Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences Adriana Molitor, PhD, coding naturalistic early childhood social interaction videos. As she explains, “carrying out a behavioral coding scheme on naturalistic early childhood social interaction video data was invaluable in shaping my research interests and methods.”
She also emphasizes how meaningful it was to engage closely with USD faculty, sharing that “the opportunity to have 1:1 access to researchers helped me learn more about academia, establish my own career goals, and begin to develop my professional communication style and critical thinking.” USD’s small-class environment and hands-on mentorship gave her an early understanding of research life that continues to guide her today.
As Eulau progressed through her training, her understanding of psychology widened from memorizing facts in isolated subfields to seeing how cognitive, developmental, evolutionary, biological and social perspectives meaningfully intersect. That interdisciplinary mindset now underpins her research on early language development and caregiver-mediated interventions. Over time, she says, “the more research studies I read, clinical experiences I have or research studies I carry out, the more the content comes alive and the less siloed my understanding is.”
Today she investigates the developmental social cognition involved in learning to talk and evaluates interventions that support toddlers’ language development. Looking ahead to her dissertation defense this spring, she encourages USD neuroscience students to stay flexible and brave: “Leave every door open you can for yourself, and walk through the most exciting door when it opens.”
Eulau envisions a future that blends research, teaching, mentorship and clinical insight, wherever the next open door may lead. Her journey reflects what she hopes current students will remember: that interdisciplinary curiosity, strong foundational training and the willingness to embrace new opportunities can open pathways to meaningful and impactful work.