Saori Wakita recently earned her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Literatures from The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on crosslinguistic influence, particularly how second-language experience affects native-language use.
 

Beginning in August 2026, she will join the Department of Chinese and Japanese at Grinnell College as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Japanese. There, she will teach Japanese language courses and Japanese linguistics.
 

During her time at The Ohio State University, Saori served as a Graduate Teaching Associate, teaching Japanese language courses while conducting research in psycholinguistics. She looks forward to continuing both her teaching and research at Grinnell College and is grateful for the support and encouragement she received from the faculty, staff, and fellow students in DEALL throughout her graduate studies.