Sten Knutsen

Academic and Professional Profile

Cognitive psychologist with expertise in language and acoustic analysis of prosody, focusing on computational and experimental models of stress perception across diverse populations. My research combines machine learning, Bayesian methods, and data visualization to investigate the cognitive and acoustic underpinnings of speech perception. An experienced educator, I mentor students in interdisciplinary research methods, empowering them to apply computational tools to real-world problems.

Education

• PhD in Cognitive Psychology (expected 2025)
  Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
  Dissertation (working title): The Acoustic Realization of Prosody Across Contexts.
• Master of Science in Cognitive Psychology (2021)
  Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
  Master’s Thesis: An Ideal Compensator Model of Speech Perception.
• Bachelor of Arts (Summa Cum Laude, 2017)
  Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
  Majors: Computer Science, Linguistics, Cognitive Science

Teaching Experience

• Quantitative Methods in Psychology (4-credit course; Summer 2023)
  Developed and taught a foundational undergraduate course on statistical methods, including in-person lectures, activities, and assessments.
• Psychology of Language (3-credit course; Fall 2019, Summer 2019-2022, 2024)
  Taught in-person (two weekly lectures) and online (10-part video series) for classes of up to 70 students; designed and graded all assessments.
• College Writing (3-credit course; Fall 2023, 2024)
  Rutgers Writing Program, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
  Developed course materials, led activities, and provided detailed feedback on student drafts and projects.
• Online Cognition/Sensation and Perception Lab (1-credit writing-intensive course; Fall 2018–Spring 2022)
  Guided 15-30 students per term with writing assignments, data collection, and analysis for term papers.
• Teaching Assistantship (Fall 2017 – Spring 2018)
  Assisted in undergraduate psychology courses, including grading, exam proctoring, and holding office hours.
• Mentorship and Undergraduate Research Supervision (Spring 2021 – Present)
  Guided over 30 undergraduate researchers in the Language Acquisition and Processing Lab. Supported students in producing 8 conference posters (6 led by students as first authors), co-presented a conference talk, co-authored a conference proceedings paper, and co-mentored 2 senior honors theses to completion.

Projects and Presentations

• Sohn, S., Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2025). Fine-Tuning Whisper for Inclusive Prosodic Stress Analysis. Accepted. ISCA/ITG Workshop on Diversity in Large Speech and Language Models, Technische Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the German Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) Berlin, February 20, 2025, Berlin, Germany.
• Lopez, E., Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2025). Is Timing Everything? How First Language Shapes English Prosody Comprehension. Accepted. 96th Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, March 6-8, New York City.
• Cheenath, S., Bryant, S., Ergin, Y., Lutken, C. J., Knutsen, S., Vankadari, S., Stromswold, K. (2025). Early Language Exposure Affects Reflexive and Accusative Pronoun Production and Processing. Accepted. 96th Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting, March 6-8, New York City.
• Sohn, S., Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2024). Democratizing Prosodic Stress Recognition Across Genders and Neurotypes. Abstract, under review. Special Session, Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing (HSP38) at University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
• Sohn, S., Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2024). Leveraging Whisper for Prosodic Stress Analysis. Abstract, under review. 49th annual Penn Linguistics Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
• Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2024). Gender Differences in the Acoustical Realization of Lexical, Phrasal, and Contrastive Stress. Talk presentation. 48th annual Penn Linguistics Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
• Hague, B., Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2024). The Acoustic Realization of Lexical, Phrasal and Contrastive Stress by People with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Poster presentation. 95th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Philadelphia, PA.
• Knutsen, S., Kuziemski, A., Kenny, M., Peppé, S., & Stromswold, K. (2023). The Effects of Sex and Autism Spectrum Disorder on Prosody. Talk presentation. 47th annual Penn Linguistics Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
• Knutsen, S., Pang, J., Peppé, S., & Stromswold, K. (2023). Lexical, Phrase and Contrastive Stress: Similarities and Differences. Poster presentation. 47th annual Penn Linguistics Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
• Knutsen, S., Sekar, S., Peppé, S., & Stromswold, K. (2023). English Prosody Comprehension in Heritage Speakers: Is One’s Mother’s Tongue the Same as One’s Mother Tongue? Poster presentation. 47th annual Penn Linguistics Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
• Kuziemski, A., Knutsen, S., Peppé, S., & Stromswold, K. (2023). Prosody and Masking: Women on the Spectrum. Poster presentation. 94th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
• Pang, J., Knutsen, S., Peppé, S., & Stromswold, K. (2023). What is Stress? Poster presentation. 94th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
• Sekar, S., Knutsen, S., Peppé, S., & Stromswold, K. (2023). English Prosody Comprehension in English-Dominant Heritage Speakers. Poster presentation. 94th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.
• Knutsen, S., Peppé, S., & Stromswold, K. (2021). O-PEPS-C: Online Test of Prosody Comprehension & Production. Co-developed an online adaptation of the PEPS-C, facilitating remote assessment of prosodic comprehension and production.
• Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2021). The Prosody of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis. Poster presentation. RUCARES Autism conference, New Brunswick, NJ.
• Knutsen, S., Stromswold, K., & Kleinschmidt, D. F. (2020). Compensation, Classification and Inferring Sentence Structure from Acoustic Duration. Poster presentation. LabPhon 17, online.
• Knutsen, S., Stromswold, K., & Kleinschmidt, D.F. (2019). Segmental Duration as a Cue to Sentence Structure. Poster presentation. 32nd Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Boulder, CO.
• Knutsen, S., Stromswold, K., & Kleinschmidt, D.F. (2019). Segmental Duration as a Cue to Sentence Structure. Poster presentation. 177th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, Louisville, KY.
• Knutsen, S., Stromswold, K., & Kleinschmidt, D.F. (2019). Segmental Duration as a Cue to Sentence Structure. Poster presentation. Psycholinguistics in Iceland – Parsing and Prediction conference, Reykjavik, Iceland.
• Rehrig, G. L., Schrum, N., Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2018). Use It or Lose It: Delayed Syntactic Integration in L2 English Speakers. Poster presentation. 31st Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, UC Davis Conference Center, Davis, CA.
• Rehrig, G. L., Knutsen, S., Schrum, N., de Lacy, P., & Stromswold, K. (2017). The Long and Short of It: The Role of Verb Stem Vowel Duration in Sentence Processing. Poster presentation. 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Hilton London Metropole, London, UK.

Papers

• Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2024). Gender Differences in the Acoustical Realization of Lexical, Phrasal, and Contrastive Stress. Published in Proceedings of the 48th Annual Penn Linguistics Conference.
• Knutsen, S., Kuziemski, A., Kenny, M., Peppé, S., & Stromswold, K. (2023). The Effects of Sex and Autism Spectrum Disorder on Prosody. Published in Proceedings of the Penn Linguistics Conference 47.
• Knutsen, S.. (2021). The Prosody of People with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Literature Review and Meta-Analysis. Qualifying paper.
• Knutsen, S.. (2021). An Ideal Compensator Model of Speech Perception. Master’s Thesis.

Honors and Awards

• Henry Rutgers Scholar (2017). For outstanding interdisciplinary thesis in cognitive science: Isolating the Elusive Verb Stem Vowel
• Member, Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society (2017)
• Dean’s List, Rutgers University (2014–2017)
• CUNY Student Travel Award (2019)
• RUCCS Travel Award (2019)

Skills

• Programming Skills: Python, R, Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SQL
• Research Tools: SPSS, JASP, Praat, FindingFive, SONA, Whisper API
• Statistical Analysis: Frequentist and Bayesian methods, including computational modeling of speech perception. AI and machine learning classification techniques (e.g., random forest)
• Technical Skills: Experimental design, speech and acoustic analysis, transcription and audio processing, data visualization
• Data Management: Proficient in organizing and analyzing large datasets, integrating multiple tools for efficient workflow
• Teaching and Mentoring: Developing writing-intensive and lab-based courses, providing constructive feedback, guiding undergraduate research assistants
• Communication and Collaboration: Conference presentations, public outreach, teamwork in interdisciplinary research settings

Public Outreach

• The Cognitive Revolution and AI
  Lifetime Learning Series, Washington Township Public Library, Long Valley, NJ, May 2023
• Psychology of Language
  Lifetime Learning Series, Washington Township Public Library, Long Valley, NJ, June 2021