2007
Awarded $4,000
Maria V. Ivanova
PhD candidate
Ohio University
2006
Awarded $4,000
Victoria Lee
AuD candidate
Northwestern University
2005
Awarded $4,000
Lakshmi Venkatesh
PhD candidate
University of Washington
2004
Awarded $4,000
Edwin Maas
PhD candidate
San Diego State University and University of California-San Diego
2003
Awarded $4,000
Sally Clendon
PhD candidate
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Sally Clendon is a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, after earning her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. Her master’s thesis investigated the efficacy of phoneme awareness training for children with severe speech and physical impairments; her current areas of interest are augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and literacy.
Sally worked as a speech-language pathologist in New Zealand’s public schools for 2 ½ years, and then returned to an academic program after becoming increasingly aware of the lack of knowledge and training in literacy and AAC development for children with severe disabilities. Her long-range goals are to advocate for children, mentor students as a faculty member in a research university, and affiliate with a multidisciplinary research center.
2002
Awarded $4,000
Kathryn Patricia Connaghan
University of Washington
Kathryn P. Connaghan is pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Washington, where she is focusing on the study and research of speech motor control and motor speech disorders. She was a key participant in a university research project to develop methods and indices for describing coordination across speech systems, and held the primary role in completing a manuscript about this research for publication.
Katey first became aware of the paucity of research in normal and disordered speech motor control as a graduate student the University of Minnesota, and continued to be challenged by questions related to speech physiology while working in a clinical setting. This led to her desire to research theories of motor speech production. Katey’s passion lies in the investigation of speech motor development in children with motor disorders, in order to broaden understanding and enhance identification and treatment of children with motor speech disorders.
Katey plans to embark on an academic career that will include research to broaden the understanding of motor speech disorders in children and educating budding clinicians and researchers.
2001
Awarded $4,000
Pushpa Parvathy Ramachandran
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Pushpa Parvathy Ramachandran is pursuing her master’s degree in speech-language pathology at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Ramachandran plans to continue on for her doctorate with the intention, after completing her degree, of returning home to India to establish an aphasia and swallowing disorders center. Toward this aim, she will be doing graduate internships at the UPMC Swallowing Disorders Center and Aphasia Center. As an undergraduate, working as a student clinician in India, Ms. Ramachandran felt that the techniques used for dealing with dysphagia, especially such treatment tools as the Flexible Fibreoptic Endoscopy and the Modified Barium Swallow Study, were still at an incipient stage of development. She envisions establishing a center that offers state-of-the-art treatment methods and that uses an interdisciplinary approach to management of individuals with dysphagia and aphasia, allowing patients to obtain treatment and diagnostic services without having to travel between institutes. The proposed facility would also function as a training and research institute to further advance knowledge in these areas in her country.
Betina Workman
New Mexico State University
Bettina Workman is completing her master’s degree in speech-language pathology at New Mexico State University. Her intention upon graduation is to work in the Hispanic community as a bilingual certified speech-language pathologist, either in the U.S. or Canada (where she is a citizen). Her interest in working with the Hispanic population grew out of a volunteer service mission for her church, in which she learned Spanish and was able to work with the Latin American immigrant community in Washington, D.C. She feels fortunate to have been educated in not only evaluation and therapy techniques, but also the political and social issues she will need to understand to better serve the Hispanic community. As part of her recent course work, Bettina developed a web page that describes the effects of steroids on the voice. She has contacted national and international experts and researchers on the topic to develop this informative web page. After all the hard work that has gone into her training, Ms. Workman still believes that although service-oriented careers are meant to help other people, the greatest rewards go to those who provide the service.
2000
Awarded $4,000
Ying Liu
University of Iowa
Ying Liu is completing her master’s degree in speech-language pathology at the University of Iowa. She hopes that her degree will help bridge the gap between the speech-language pathology professionals in Mainland China and the United States. Her goal is to play a role in further developing the profession in China and plans to utilize her Asian background and bilingual skills to exchange ideas and findings related to the treatment of communication disorders between countries. In addition, realizing the importance of professional accountability, she hopes to research on the efficacy of speech-language pathology services.
1999
Awarded $4,000
Shubha P. Kashinath
Florida State University
Shubha P. Kashinath is enrolled in Florida State University's speech-language pathology doctoral program. Ms. Kashinath entered the program to gain a better understanding of early identification and intervention for infants and toddlers with autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). She is specifically interested in studying outcomes of family-centered intervention practices with this population. Ms. Kashinath recognizes the need to examine the relationships among caregiver strategies, situations, tasks and specific outcomes for young children with autism/PDD to develop more individualized interaction models. She plans to pursue research as a post-doctoral fellow and create settings for training speech-language pathologists to provide effective services to children with developmental disabilities and their families.
1998
Awarded $2,000
Louise Heite
Temple University
Louise B. Heite attends the Temple University's master's program in speech-language pathology, with an emphasis on fluency disorders and a secondary emphasis on the treatment of adults with neurologically based communication disorders. Coming from a small village in East Iceland, Ms. Heite recognizes the need for speech therapy as well as other rehabilitative services in small communities. She has a strong curiosity about the problems surrounding the delivery of therapy services to people living in remote communities. In addition, her experiences as a teacher have instilled a desire to continue her education in order to better meet the needs of her students, whose fluency disorders seriously inhibit their school performance. Ms. Heite is confident that her studies will expand her background in the interaction of communication disorders and classroom practices.
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