Dr. UÄŸurcan Vurgun, PhD, MA

Postdoctoral Research Fellow @ PennMedicine, pronounced like [oorJohn], #PennIBI #Wharton #PennNLP

Research

Publications

  • Vurgun, U., Kaviyarasu, A., Hwang, S., Acevedo, A., Mowery, D. L., Abella, B. S., & Mitchell, O. J. L. (2024). Reliability in AI-assisted critical care: Assessing large language model robustness and instruction following for cardiac arrest identification. AIM-FM: Advancements In Medical Foundation Models: Explainability, Robustness, Security, and Beyond Workshop. 38th Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2024).

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2024). Aspectual processing shifts visual event apprehension. Cognitive Science, 48(6), e13476. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13476

  • Li, C., Mowery, D. L., Ma, X., Yang, R., Vurgun, U., Hwang, S., Donnelly, H. K., Bandhey, H., Akhtar, Z., Senathirajah, Y., Sadhu, E. M., Getzen, E., Freda, P. J., Long, Q., Becich, M. J. (2024). Realizing the potential of social determinants data: A scoping review of approaches for screening, linkage, extraction, analysis, and interventions. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science.

  • Vurgun, U. (2019). The syntax of focus particles in Turkish. Unpublished master’s thesis, BoÄŸaziçi University. Advisors: Dr. H. Mine NakipoÄŸlu & Dr. A. Sumru Özsoy.

  • Vurgun, U. (2018). Book review - Contemporary Morphological Theories: A User’s Guide. Thomas W. Stewart, 2015. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 192 pages. ISBN 978 07 486 9268 2. Journal of Linguistic Research, 29(2), 129-137.

Conference Proceedings

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2024). Detecting event construal shifts in aspectual coercion. Proceedings from the 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

  • Vurgun, U., Heesu, Y., Landau, B., & Trueswell, J. (2024). Real-time processing of symmetrical predicates: Semantic categorization over time. Proceedings from the 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2023). Cognitive signatures of aspectual coercion. Proceedings from the 45th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2022). Linguistic aspect constrains event apprehension. Proceedings from the 44th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Presentations

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2024). Detecting event construal shifts in aspectual coercion. Oral presentation at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

  • Vurgun, U., Heesu, Y., Landau, B., & Trueswell, J. (2024). Real-time processing of symmetrical predicates: Semantic categorization over time. Poster presentation at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Rotterdam, Netherlands.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2024). Aspectual Coercion: A New Method to Probe Aspectual Commitments. Oral presentation at the Experiments in Linguistic Meaning (ELM) Conference, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Kaviyarasu, A., Vurgun, U., Hwang, S., Acevedo, A., Mowery, D. L., Abella, B. S., & Mitchell, O. J. L. (2024). Leveraging large language models to optimize clinical text analysis for in-hospital cardiac arrest identification. Poster presentation at the Department of Medicine Research Day, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2024). Aspectual Coercion: A New Method to Probe Aspectual Commitments. Poster presentation at the 37th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

  • Vurgun, U., Yun, H., Landau, B., & Trueswell, J. (2024). Symmetrical or not?: A new method to probe real-time semantic categorization. Poster presentation at the 37th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2024). Cognitive signatures of aspectual coercion. Poster presentation at the 10th Mid-Atlantic Colloquium of Studies in Meaning (MACSIM), University of Maryland, College Park.

  • Vurgun, U., Cho, S., Fusaroli, R., Ip, M. H. K., Pelella, M. R., Knox, A., Schillinger, S., Hauptmann, A., Covello, M., Madya, M., Lyons, M., Lee, A., Fulop, L., Adeniyi, H., Russell, A., Hicks, G., Anello, O., Walker, K., Fiumara, J., Tunç, B., Sariyanidi, E., Liberman, M., Schultz, R. T., & Parish-Morris, J. (2024). Detecting Autism through Automated Speech Analysis: The Role of Model Complexity and Dataset Balance. Poster presentation at the International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

  • Kaviyarasu, A., Vurgun, U., Hwang, S., Acevedo, A., Mowery, D. L., Abella, B. S., & Mitchell, O. J. L. (2024). Leveraging large language models to optimize clinical text analysis for in-hospital cardiac arrest identification. Poster presented at the Department of Medicine Research Day, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Cho, S., Vurgun, U., Fusaroli, R., Ip, M. H. K., Pelella, M. R., Knox, A., Hauptmann, A., Covello, M., Madya, M., Lyons, M., Lee, A., Fulop, L., Schillinger, S., Russell, A., Hicks, G., Walker, K., Fiumara, J., Chatham, C., Liberman, M., Schultz, R. T., & Parish-Morris, J. (2024). Stable Acoustic Differences between Autistic and Neurotypical Children: A Longitudinal Telephony Study. Oral presentation at the International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

  • Cho, S., Vurgun, U., Fusaroli, R., Ip, M. H. K., Pelella, M. R., Knox, A., Hauptmann, A., Covello, M., Madya, M., Lyons, M., Lee, A., Fulop, L., Russell, A., Hicks, G., Fiumara, J., Pandey, J., Tunç, B., Sariyanidi, E., Liberman, M., Schultz, R. T., & Parish-Morris, J. (2024). Automatically-derived Lexical Features Distinguish Autistic Teens from Neurotypical Peers and Teens with Other Psychiatric Conditions in a Natural Conversation Task. Oral presentation at the International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

  • Ip, Martin H. K., Putnam, O., Cho, S., Vurgun, U., Lyons, M., Knox, A., Hauptmann, A., Covello, M., Madya, M., Adeniyi, H., Hicks, G., Anello, O., Walker, K., Fiumara, J., Cieri, C., Fusaroli, R., Chatham, C., Liberman, M., Schultz, R. T., Parish-Morris, J. (2024). Prosodic similarities and variation in autistic and neurotypical children: A telephone-based study of verbal counting. Oral presentation at the International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia.

  • Vurgun, U., Cho, S., Fusaroli, R., Ip, M. H. K., Pelella, M. R., Knox, A., Hauptmann, A., Covello, M., Madya, M., Lyons, M., Lee, A., Schillinger, S., Fulop, L., Adeniyi, H., Russell, A., Fiumara, J., Hicks, G., Anello, O., Walker, K., Tunç, B., Sariyanidi, E., Liberman, M., Schultz, R. T., & Parish-Morris, J. (2024). Automatic classification of autism using automatic speech recognition and large language models (LLMs). Poster presentation at Meeting on Language and Autism, Durham, NC.

  • Cho, S., Vurgun, U., Fusaroli, R., Ip, M. H. K., Pelella, M.R., Knox, A., Hauptmann, A., Covello, M., Madya, M., Lyons, M., Lee, A., Schillinger, S., Fulop, L., Russell, A., Hicks, G., Fiumara, J., Pandey, J., Tunç, B., Sariyanidi, V., Liberman, M., Schultz, R. T., & Parish-Morris, J. (2024). Autistic teens’ word choice differs from neurotypical peers and teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a natural conversation task. Poster presentation at Meeting on Language and Autism, Durham, NC.

  • Ip, M. H. K., Putnam, O. C., Cho, S., Vurgun, U., Lyons, M., Knox, A., Hauptmann, A., Covello, M., Fulop, L., Russell, A., Walker, K., Miller, J., Fiumara, J., Fusaroli, R., Chatham, C., Cieri, C., Lee, A., Liberman, M., Schultz, R. T., & Parish-Morris, J. (2024). Does speech prosody differ in a socially unengaging task? Preliminary findings from autistic and non-autistic children’s verbal counting. Poster presentation at Meeting on Language in Autism, Durham, NC.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2023). Aspectual processing and event perception. Poster presentation at the 36th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of Pittsburgh.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2023). Lexical aspect maps onto event apprehension. Poster presentation at the 9th Mid-Atlantic Colloquium of Studies in Meaning (MACSIM), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2023). Aspectual framing of events shifts online event apprehension. Poster presentation at at the 98th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Denver, CO.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2022). Lexical aspect maps onto event apprehension. Oral presentation at the 2nd Experiments in Linguistic Meaning Conference, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Vurgun, U., Ji, Y., & Papafragou, A. (2022). Linguistic aspect constrains event apprehension. Poster presentation at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Toronto, Canada.

  • Vurgun, U. (2020). Both locative alternation variants in Turkish are change-of-state predicates with ResultPs. Oral presentation at the 4th Conference of Central Asian Language and Linguistics, Indiana University.

  • Vurgun, U. (2019). A lexical-typological approach explaining the limited existence of locative alternation in Turkish. Poster presentation at the 4th Workshop on Turkic and Languages in Contact with Turkic (Tu+4), NYU.

Fellowships and Awards

  • Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) Travel Award for Meeting on Language in Autism (MoLA) [2024].
  • The 48th Annual Boston University Conference On Language Development, Diversity Travel Award [2023].
  • University of Pennsylvania, Language and Communication Sciences Research Fund [2021, 2022, 2023].
  • University of Pennsylvania, Integrated Language Sciences and Technology Research Fund [2022, 2023, 2024].
  • University of Pennsylvania, GAPSA Research Travel Grant [2022].
  • University of Pennsylvania, SAS Dean’s Travel Subvention [2022].
  • University of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin Fellowship [2019-2024].
  • BoÄŸaziçi University, Research Travel Grant [2019].
  • Koç University, Vehbi Koç Fellowship [2002-2007].

Reviewing

  • Folia Linguistica
  • CogSci (The Annual Conference of Cognitive Science Society)
  • Journal of Clinical and Translational Science
  • Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing


my research