New Century Scholars Program Doctoral Scholarship 2003–2009

2009

Awarded $10,000 each

Francois-Xavier Brajot
PhD Candidate
McGill University

Skott Freedman
PhD Candidate
San Diego State University/University of California

Andrea Hillock
PhD Candidate
Vanderbilt University

Skyler Jennings
PhD Candidate
Purdue University

Raul Rojas
PhD Candidate
Temple University

Emily Rusnak
PhD Candidate
Bowling Green State University

Emily Aileen Zimmerman
PhD Candidate
University of Kansas

2008

Awarded $10,000 each

Sophie Ambrose
PhD Candidate
University of Kansas

Megha Bahl
PhD Candidate
University of Arizona

Angela Yarnell Bonino
PhD candidate
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Deanna Britton
PhD Candidate
University of Washington

Jamie L. Desjardins
PhD Candidate
Syracuse University

Kerry Danahy Ebert
PhD Candidate
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Aaron M. Johnson
PhD Candidate
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Karen Le
PhD Candidate
University of Connecticut

Jimin Lee
PhD Candidate
University of Wisconsin, Madison

Megan K. McPherson
PhD Candidate
Purdue University

Kimberly M. Meigh
PhD Candidate
University of Pittsburgh

Brandi L. Newkirk
PhD Candidate
Louisiana State University

Gayla L. Poling
PhD Candidate
Ohio State University

Meredith A. Poore
PhD Candidate
University of Kansas

Amy D. Rodriquez
PhD Candidate
University of Florida

Vicki M. Samelson
PhD Candidate
University of Iowa

April Gibbs Scott
PhD Candidate
University of Pittsburgh

Elizabeth Spencer
PhD Candidate
Vanderbilt University

Michelle S. Troche
PhD Candidate
University of Florida

Yihe Zu
Phd Candidate
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2007

Awarded $10,000 each

Suzanne Adlof
PhD Candidate
University of Kansas

Curtis J. Billings
PhD Candidate
University of Washington

Bharath Chandrasekaran
PhD Candidate
Purdue University

Robin Samlan
PhD Candidate
University of Arizona

Gabriela Simon-Cereijido
PhD Candidate
San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego

2006

Awarded $10,000 each

Lauren Calandruccio
PhD Candidate
Syracuse University

Helen Cullington
PhD Candidate
University of California, Irvine

Harrison N. J ones
PhD Candidate
University of Florida

Yunjung Kim
PhD Candidate
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Elizabeth C. Walker
PhD Candidate
University of Iowa

2005

Awarded $10,000 each

Katrina B. Agung
PhD candidate
University of Texas at Dallas

Adriane DeMarco Baylis
PhD candidate
University of Minnesota

Jami F. Mayer
PhD candidate
Indiana University

Lizbeth H. Finestack
PhD candidate
The University of Kansas

Jason Tait Sanchez
PhD candidate
Kent State University,
Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine

Jennell C. Vick
PhD candidate
University of Washington

2004

Awarded $10,000 each

Lendra Friesen
PhD candidate
University of Washington

Michael J. Hammer
PhD candidate
University of Kansas

William D. Hula
PhD candidate
University of Pittsburgh

Diane Ogiela
PhD candidate
Michigan State University

Louise Stanczak
ScD candidate
Boston University

2003

Awarded $10,000 Each

Shannon Austermann
PhD candidate
San Diego State University and University of California-San Diego

Shannon Austermann is pursuing a PhD in speech-language pathology in the San Diego State University / University of California, San Diego joint program. Reflecting her undergraduate interest in the relationship between language and other cognitive processes, particularly in adult neurogenic disorders, her own doctoral work is directly related to uniting theory and practice. She has designed a study of continuous online measurement of processing load in sentence comprehension using manual tracking as a secondary task. Shannon also is involved in a series of studies, single-subject designs to assess treatment efficacy in acquired apraxia of speech, and mentors an undergraduate and a graduate student as part of the laboratory teaching system. Her goal is an academic career that includes teaching, research, and clinical service.

Cathy Binger
PhD candidate
Pennsylvania State University

Cathy A. Binger is a PhD candidate in speech-language pathology at Pennsylvania State University: Her major emphasis is intervention research that will support early language development of children who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). After practicing as a speech-language pathologist in a number of clinical settings for 8 years, several factors led Cathy to return to complete her PhD: her undergraduate experience with research, frustration with the lack of evidence-based intervention approaches as a clinician, and the pleasures of teaching while she was a clinical supervisor and classroom instructor at the University of Georgia. Cathy's goal is to contribute to communication sciences and disorders (CSD) studies at a research university, with opportunities to guide CSD students toward becoming the clinicians and researchers of tomorrow.

Gayle DeDe
ScD candidate
Boston University

Gayle DeDe is an ScD candidate in speech-language pathology at Boston University, where she has taken applied and content courses in the communication sciences and disorders program, as well as research seminars in BU's psychology department and the brain and cognitive sciences program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This interdisciplinary view has been critical in the development of her research interests, which include language processing in older and younger adults and how they break down after acquired brain injuries, a self-cueing strategy for verbal naming based on written naming and tactile cues, and investigation of three theories of sentence comprehension in aphasia. Gayle hopes that her dissertation research, on constraint-satisfaction theories of sentence processing, will help to clarify the underlying impairment in individuals with aphasia, and lead to new diagnostic and treatment materials. Her long-term goals are to conduct research that extends our understanding of normal and disordered language and cognitive processes, and to effectively communicate the clinical applications of this work to new and seasoned clinicians.

Melanie Gregan
PhD candidate
University of Minnesota

Melanie J. Gregan is pursuing a PhD in audiology/hearing science at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. After 6 years as a research audiologist, Melanie returned to school to develop a better understanding of the psychoacoustic abilities of normal and impaired auditory systems, how these systems affect the capacity to understand speech, and potential ways to alleviate communication barriers via use of hearing aids. Melanie is said to have all the right research instincts: "She can tell an important question from a trivial one, she can construct and then critique an experimental design to answer an important question, and she can analyze results rationally," says one of her professors. Her long-term goal is developing, and teaching others to develop, the basic and applied research in hearing that is necessary to guide the development of prosthetic devices and the applications of new technology to compensate for hearing loss.

Esther S. Kim
PhD candidate
University of Arizona

Esther Sung Kim is seeking a PhD in speech-language pathology at the University of Arizona; her primary focus area is neurogenic communication disorders (dementia in particular) and multicultural issues as they relate to communication sciences and disorders. In becoming a teacher-investigator, Esther wants to support the qualities she has seen in her role models in the profession: a "desire to investigate clinically relevant phenomena and interventions, and the nurturing guidance to teach and inspire students to do the same." When working in a skilled nursing facility after she completed her master's degree, Esther experienced first-hand not only the pessimistic views caregivers, family members, and medical professionals hold toward communicative functioning in dementia patients, but also the joys and improvements in communication possible with simple interventions capitalizing on a dementia patient's spared abilities. Her goal is to develop further interventions that can be of maximal benefit to this ever-increasing population.

Nathan V. Welham
PhD candidate
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Nathan V. Welham is pursuing a PhD in speech-language pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, after completing his undergraduate and master's degrees at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. His primary interests are voice and genetics: the genetic mechanisms that potentially underlie differences in laryngeal structure and function, susceptibility to disease, and responses to treatment. In addition to his other work, Nathan co-developed and co-teaches a graduate course in voice disorders that presents all the didactic lecture material on the Web, and devotes classroom time to case-based teaching, group and individual problem solving, and instruction in instrumentation. His long-range goal as a teacher-investigator is to try to do what all good instructors do: take students to the level at which they can do more than the one who teaches them.