When Meadow Quibodeax was in high school French class, her teacher made an off-hand remark about how Spanish and French were closely related.

“This was a new concept to me. This opened my eyes,” the newly minted '23 language science alumna says.

Quibodeaux’s fascination and passion with language has only increased since then. She marvels over how language consistently captures the human experience in unique ways. Her passion for her discipline continues to grow with each new discovery.

Passion in practice

While an undergrad, Quibodeaux has gathered a lot of experience in research. Her involvement began when visiting researcher Galia Bar-Sever and lecturer Benjamin Mis from the language science department both approached her independently about getting involved. They saw that she was passionate and knowledgeable and recommended that she contact Gregory Scontras, the undergraduate director of the language science department.

“They saw a passion in me and urged me to go deeper into language science,” Quibodeaux says.

She reached out to Scontras and he invited her to attend meetings where the language science graduate students discussed their work. It was here where Quibodeaux got a keener sense of what graduate school was like. 

Quibodeaux made a good impression on other language science faculty too. After taking a class with assistant professor Xin Xie, Xie invited Quibodeaux to work in her lab. For a quarter, Quibodeaux annotated files in a speech analysis software.

Later, after taking a class with social sciences lecturer Jonathan Lui, Quibodeaux served as a grader for his summer session course in social statistics. She takes particular pride in this position, since it’s rare for undergraduates to be hired in this role. But more importantly, Quibodeaux values the relationship she’s built with Lui.

“He's been a particularly important mentor for me academically, as well as personally. He’s given me great opportunities and he’s been a good listener when times have been tough,” she says.

Beyond words

During the fall quarter, Quibodeaux worked in Ph.D. student Noa Attali’s lab as a research assistant. As part of her duties, Quibodeaux collected and analyzed transcripts and recordings of ambiguity in spontaneous conversations in radio archives. (As an example of ambiguous speech, Everyone doesn't go to college, could mean either that No one goes to college or Not everyone goes to college.)

Attali praises Quibodeaux’s contributions to her lab.

“She asks insightful questions and is quick to offer her own ideas, expertise, criticisms and thoughts regarding our work,” says Attali. “Her communication skills have really bolstered the whole research lab; whenever we work as a team, Meadow steps up to guide and offer her technical and linguistic knowledge of audio analysis to the members of the lab who have less experience. Partly as a result of her strong communication, she's good at getting things done.”

On a more personal note, Attali says, “I've been struck by her strong and lovely character. She makes everyone laugh in lab meetings; she's always a pleasure to work or hang out with.”

Quibodeaux is thankful for the research opportunities she’s received and the dedicated teachers she’s learned from during her time at UCI.

“Different members of the department have been willing to give me opportunities and see and help foster my passion. Right now, I’m taking a mathematical logic class with Clara Bradley and I've had a wonderful time learning from such a passionate educator,” she says.

Clubs and climbing

Quibodeaux was born in San Francisco and raised in Irvine by parents who were loving and supportive. When Quibodeaux was diagnosed with autism, they always made sure she received the classroom support she needed.

“They made sure I had teachers who really cared about educating people like me. That environment helped me develop a passion for learning,” she says.

After high school, Quibodeaux attended Irvine Valley College before transferring to UCI. Instead of waiting for people to approach her when she was new to campus, she put herself out there.

“What made transferring easier was getting involved with clubs and my department,” she says.

The student group Quibodeaux became most engaged with at UCI was the Tabletop Games Club. It’s where she met her boyfriend after hitting it off over a game of mahjong.  

“Something I've learned at UCI is to be honest about what you care about and who you are. When you do, people will notice your honesty and passion,” she says.

Quibodeaux’s passion extends beyond her major. As a self-proclaimed workaholic, she consciously maintains a healthy work-life balance by incorporating extracurricular activities in her routine. A lot of these activities help her feel grounded - or as grounded as one can be when one of those passions is rock climbing. She began the sport when she was 14 and even climbed competitively for a while. She has worked part-time since she was a freshman in high school and, in addition to her research positions, works at the rock climbing gym where she loves to climb.

“She's someone who knows how to stay steady and have fun in the face of challenges,” Atali says.

Facing the Future

Quibodeaux is a December graduate. If she’s being honest, her feelings about this milestone are a little mixed.

“It’s scary going out into the world, but I feel like I'm prepared. The network of people that I've cultivated at UCI makes me feel a lot better about it. UCI has connected me to so many passionate, educated, and hardworking individuals,” she says.

She’s decided to take a year off before applying to graduate school. Her long-term goal is to obtain a Ph.D. in language science so that she can teach and pursue research as faculty. But don’t worry that taking a year off will cause her goals to be sidelined.

“I honestly don't see a world in which I don't apply for a grad school,” she says as she holds up both hands with fingers crossed.

-Jill Kato for UCI School of Social Sciences