CI2026 Chicago Student Scholarship Recipients

Name Institution Degree
Claire Bretschneider University of Delaware SPL
Connie Chang-Chien University of California, San Francisco MD
Acayla Chung University of Colorado Boulder AuD
Lauren Cullen NYU Langone Health AuD
Emily Gao Johns Hopkins University MD
Christopher Hyland Northeast Ohio Medical University MD
Mariana Ibanez-Baldor University of Wisconsin-Madison AuD
India Jackson University of Pennsylvania MD
Lindsey Jackson University of Florida MD
Achilles Kanaris Northwestern University MD
Jack Lin Vanderbilt University MD
Yajaira Martinez Pacific University AuD
Natalia Matteo WashU Medicine AuD
Devon Major Boys Town National Research Hospital Post Doctoral
Danielle Nasoff Rush University AuD
Samantha Recine University at Buffalo AuD
Alexa Schweihofer Wayne State University AuD
Samantha Semeraro Teachers College Columbia University MA
Natalie Straight The University of Texas at Dallas AuD
Arizio Vargas University of Northern Colorado AuD
Audrey Vickers Samford University SPL
Jun Zhang Northwestern University PhD

Thank you to our judges:

CI2026 Student Scholarship Committee

Erin Blackburn AuD
Michelle Havlik SPL
Megan Narron AuD
Nate Page MD (Chair)
Michael Scott AuD
Matthew Shew MD


The mission of the American Cochlear Implant (ACI) Alliance is to advance access to the gift of hearing provided by cochlear implantation through research, advocacy and awareness.