When she was a child, Olivia Honeycutt, an MIT student, spent summers on her grandparents’ farm in rural Alabama outside Birmingham. The practical and cultural differences between farm life and city life became more apparent in comparison. “Life and the way we lived on the farm slowed down,” she says. “It was a nice change of pace.”
These days, Honeycutt, a double major in Arithmetic and cognition and Linguisticsshe still finds herself moving between several connected and distinctly different worlds at once. Her research interests lie at the intersections of human thinking and consciousness, language learning and acquisition, technology, and interaction and influence between social groups.
Honeycutt’s interest in language and the ways it can shape the way we think and live grew alongside his lifelong investments in mathematics and science. She learned French from her relationships with Haitian family friends, and she learned American Sign Language because of another friend’s deaf brother. She was fascinated by how speakers from those groups communicated and how the brain could reorganize itself when faced with a lack of auditory input.
“There are many different things between sign language and spoken language,” she says. “Speaking multiple languages and dialects while managing the emotional and cultural nuances that multilingualism offers can transform your experience of the world and yourself.” Work in these areas creates research opportunities in disciplines as diverse as neuroscience, large language models (LLMs), psychology, and public policy.
“There is great work currently being done in neurolinguistics, along with trying to better understand the differences between neural networks and artificial intelligence and how each processes information,” Honeycutt points out. She says she has wanted to study these matters for a long time. “When people have to deal with a language deficit like aphasia, for example, and you’re immersed in many areas of research to find answers, you’ll learn fascinating things like how the brain does language.”
MIT’s approach to the study
Honeycutt chose MIT, in part, because the Computation and Cognition major “wasn’t something I could find anywhere else.” Her passion for mathematics and English, coupled with her desire to pursue the kind of work in computer science that is “people-centered,” increased the likelihood that she would be able to continue in her preferred areas of research with the support of the institute’s faculty and other students.
I found class 9.59J (Psycholinguistics Laboratory) taught by a Brain and Cognitive Sciences professor Ted Gibsonto be particularly useful. “It laid the foundation for my business,” she says.
Her decision to major in linguistics alongside computation and cognition meant that she could link her interests in brain function and technology with a data-driven approach to the study and processing of language. “The linguistics major highlighted the power of scientific rigor in organizing and analyzing a huge amount of messy, human-centered data,” she says. Her coursework reinforced the value of her decision.
Honeycutt praises the freedom afforded by MIT’s focus on interdisciplinary studies. “Researchers are exploring the differences between models of human language and models of language and processing, and a lot of this work is being done at MIT,” she says. “MIT provides rigorous flexibility that allows me to immerse myself in multiple academic interests.”
It’s this flexibility that Honeycutt values most. “That’s the only reason I’m on the path I chose,” she continues, a path that focuses on language acquisition, education policy, the computational affordances and limitations of LLMs, and education reform.
Honeycutt’s research continued in a series of Misty Travels in 2025. I traveled to South Africa in the summer where I worked on South African Human Rights Commission‘s “Right to Read” campaign.. She explored the links between language processing and brain function and supported research to help develop legislation to help increase literacy among South Africans.
She emphasizes that “linguistic diversity represents great challenges in South Africa.” “One of the effects of colonialism on indigenous African people, for example, is that children are often expelled from schools because they cannot use the languages they learn – such as Afrikaans – with their families at home.”
In the fall of 2025, she took a MISTI trip to Edinburgh, Scotland, where she studied sociolinguistics. I have learned the value of considering alternative approaches to the type of linguistics offered at MIT. “MIT’s approach to linguistics is word-focused and approaches studying it like a math problem, while sociolinguistics includes important cultural context,” she says. Linking the two resulted in a more complete and comprehensive approach to the work.
Honeycutt values a balanced approach to her studies, allowing her time for extracurricular activities that allow her to investigate her research goals and create community. “I completed a policy internship in Washington, D.C., in 2024,” she recalls.
She is a member of Theta Delta Chia fraternity with a diverse group of undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds. She is playing Women’s Football Club He is an officer with MIT Undergraduate Association. As co-chair of Community Service Committeeshe leads efforts to create connections with students who live off campus.
Honeycutt also volunteers with Community Charter School in Cambridge, working to improve outcomes for low-achieving students. As a volunteer, she is able to try out some of the educational ideas being developed in her courses. “I want to help underperforming students in the same way that some institutions help high-performing students,” she says.
The human element
Language shapes the way its users view the world, according to Honeycutt. “I’m interested in how language can constrain thought,” she says. Language proficiency is also a valuable tool in measuring emotional intelligence. “It’s important that people acquire and understand the language at school,” she says. “People should have access to language that allows them to communicate what they are thinking effectively.”
Honeycutt believes that having words to express feelings can help people process them. This is important in fields such as translation and psychology, where nuances can be important. She also believes that reading and language acquisition are essential tools in developing effective self-awareness. Language is a way of thinking and provides barriers to improve understanding.
“Having access to a large vocabulary, including words for emotions, can increase your emotional intelligence,” she says.
With a solid academic foundation focused on cognition, language, and artificial intelligence, Honeycutt plans to pursue studies in law and politics after graduation. This means law school and public policy programs, perhaps at an institution that offers a dual degree track.
“I want to expand opportunities for underserved students,” she says. “Problems in policy are difficult, in part, because they defy easy categorization and involve many stakeholders.” Education is “an interesting problem to try to solve,” Honeycutt says. She wants to support efforts to create lasting change by improving literacy, ensuring linguistic diversity, and focusing science and research when crafting and implementing effective legislation that benefits learners, institutions, families, and communities.
No single study in any field will answer all the questions, Honeycutt says. By combining brain physiology with the social and mathematical aspects of linguistics, she can further investigate language, its use and its impact on people and their lives. We cannot solve education challenges, improve AI and access AI-enabled tools, and continue the study of linguistics without institutional and societal support.
“Support research,” Honeycutt says. “Don’t give up trying to solve these problems.”
(Tags for translation) MIT SHASS
