Emily Bouck Ph.D., Michigan State University ecb@msu.edu Emily Bouck’s research focuses on improving
outcomes of secondary students with high-
incidence disabilities through advances in two
strands of scholarship: standard academic
curricula (i.e., mathematics) and functional
curricula. Within these strands is a focus on how
technology can support students with disabilities
in accessing and achieving in both curricula, and
translating success to post-school experiences.
Matthew Brodhead Ph.D., Utah State University mtb@msu.edu Matthew T. Brodhead is a Board Certified
Behavior
Analyst whose research examines behavioral
determinants of response variability, choice
and
independent social skills in children with
autism. He is also interested in research
and
conceptual issues relating to the ethical
and
professional behavior of practicing
behavior
analysts. He is on the editorial boards of
The
Analysis of Verbal Behavior and the Review
Journal of Autism and Developmental
Disorders.
Through workshops and consultation, he has
established multiple school-based programs
for
children with autism, and he has provided
training to teachers, related service
providers
and behavior analysts throughout the
United
States.
Eunsoo Cho Ph.D., Vanderbilt University escho@msu.edu Eunsoo Cho’s research focuses on
statistical
modeling of reading development in
students
with
or at-risk for having learning
disabilities,
including students from language
minority
backgrounds. Her research has two
strands:
First,
she is interested in developing and
validating
assessment methods to accurately
identify
students with learning disabilities within
a
multitiered support system, such as
response
to
intervention (RTI). Second, her research
focuses
on understanding psychological and
motivational
processes involved in learning. She intends
to
develop a motivation intervention that can
be
combined with reading instruction for
students
with persistent reading difficulties. One
of
her
co-authored articles in Reading Research
Quarterly received the 2015 Albert J.
Harris
Award from the International Literacy
Association. In 2016, she received the
Samuel
Kirk Award for best research article from
the
Division of Learning Disabilities of the
Council
for Exceptional Children. She is also a
faculty
affiliate in the Educational Psychology and
Educational Technology (EPET) program.
Carol Sue Englert Ph.D., Indiana University carolsue@msu.edu Carol Sue Englert is a professor of special
education. Her research interests include literacy
instruction for students at risk for school
failure with a specific focus on the examination
of discourse in literacy events. Her more recent
work involves a collaborative research project
with special education teachers to design,
implement, and integrate a literacy curriculum
emphasizing the role of oral and written language
in a discourse community.
Marisa Fisher is an assistant professor of special education, a
Board Certified Behavior
Analyst-Doctoral (BCBA-D) and the co-director of Spartan Project
SEARCH. Her research
focuses on understanding and decreasing social vulnerability of
individuals with intellectual
and developmental disabilities (IDD) and supporting the social
acceptance of individuals with
IDD in the community. She is specifically interested in measuring
the various types of
victimization experienced by individuals with IDD and on designing
interventions to decrease
vulnerability. She has studied victimization in the form of child
abuse, bullying, stranger
danger, and exploitation across the lifespan. She uses the
principles of applied behavior
analysis and single subject research methods to design
interventions to teach self-protection
to individuals with IDD.
As the co-director of Spartan Project SEARCH, Dr. Fisher and her
students provide support
to high school students with IDD who are transitioning from school
to work as they
participate in internship experiences across the university. Dr.
Fisher’s research specific to
Spartan Project SEARCH examines behavioral supports necessary to
promote success in the
work and community environment, the outcomes of participating
students, and the impact of
the program of attitudes toward and acceptance of individuals with
IDD in the workplace
Dr. Fisher is the PI on a project funded by the Institute of
Education Sciences' Early Career
Development and Mentoring in Special Education Program. This study
is designed to better
understand the risk factors and consequences of bullying for
middle school students with
autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID).
Specifically, she is conducting
a longitudinal investigation to determine the risk factors (e.g.,
loneliness, poor social skills,
internalizing and externalizing problems) and academic, emotional,
and behavioral
consequences of bullying for youth with ASD and how these risk
factors and outcomes
compare to youth with ID and students without disabilities.
Troy Mariage Ph.D., Michigan State University mariaget@msu.edu Troy Mariage is an associate professor of special
education. His research interests are in the areas
of literacy instruction for students with mild
disabilities in elementary classrooms. He has
conducted work in early reading instruction,
writing instruction, and cognitive strategy
instruction that leads to self-regulated learning.
More recently, he has extended his work by seeking
to understand how to create schools as learning
organizations that create the capacity for
continuous learning and improvement. Currently, he
is conducting a study to explore how teachers can
provide concurrent academic and social support for
students with significant learning and behavioral
difficulties.
Cynthia Okolo Ph.D. Indiana University okolo@msu.edu Cynthia Okolo is a professor of special education. Her research focuses on
improving academic outcomes for students with disabilities through the
integration of technology into the classroom. She also studies how Universal
Design for Learning (UDL)-aligned instructional practices can improve
learning
and behavior. Her current projects involve the development of literacy tools
and
strategies for using digital reading materials and teacher preparation for the
implementation of UDL. Most of her work has been conducted in middle and
high schools and in diverse classrooms that include students with and
without
disabilities. She is Past President and Professional Development Co-Chair of
the
Technology and Media Division of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Joshua Plavnick Ph.D., Michigan State University plavnick@msu.edu Joshua Plavnick is an associate professor of
special education, and director of the Early
Learning Institute, which he founded in 2014. His
research interests involve the development and
implementation of community-based interventions
for individuals with autism spectrum disorder,
automated measurement of human behavior,
applications of technology to behavior analytic
interventions, and training educational service
providers to administer behavior analytic
interventions.
Tiffany Stauch Assistant Professor-Fixed Term kaidtiff@msu.edu Tiffany Stauch is an assistant professor of special education
and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Her research
interests include ways to support individuals with disabilities
in work place settings as well as the use application of video
modeling to teach complex skills to adolescents with autism.
Most recently, she investigated the use of video modeling to
teach vocational skills and work related social skills to
adolescents with autism. She is also interested in methods to
promote generalization of skills, such as matrix training,
multiple exemplar training, and programming common
stimuli.
Gary Troia Ph.D., University of Maryland gtroia@msu.edu Gary Troia is an associate professor of special
education. His research interests include the
connections between oral language and literacy in
typical and atypical learners, writing assessment
and instruction, and teacher professional
development in literacy. His recent work involves
examining alignment between states' content
standards and assessment frameworks in writing and
how alignment between these influences writing
outcomes and enables students to meet
postsecondary writing expectations. He also is
examining predictors of writing quality within a
multi-level linguistic framework to help
researchers and educators develop better
measurement tools for writing.
Andrea Truckenmiller Ph.D., Syracuse University atruck@msu.edu Adrea Truckenmiller’s research interests
broadly
include adolescent literacy, writing assessment
and data-based decision-making for instruction.
Her previous funded projects explored the
relation between important component skills of
literacy and processes for identifying all
students' instructional needs. Currently,
Truckenmiller is investigating the feedback
loop
between writing instruction and formative
assessment of writing.
Program Staff
Internship Coordinator
Lisa Plascencia
Phone: 517-353-5401
337 Erickson Hall lisaplas@msu.edu
MA Program Coordinator
Erin Hamilton
517-432-0418
342 Erickson Hall erinhami@msu.edu
Office Assistant
Dawn Therrian Taylor
517-353-1842
335 Erickson Hall therria5@msu.edu
Undergraduate Academic Advising
Janet Chegwidden
Degrees: BS Secondary Education French/English, MA Education/Reading Specialist
Degrees: BS Secondary Education French/English, MA Education/Reading Specialist
MA Program Coordinator
Office Assistant 
