2010 SPARC Award Recipients

The Students Preparing for Academic and Research Careers (SPARC) Award is designed as a strategy to promote PhD career development for communication sciences and disorders undergraduate and graduate students. Recipients will use the award monies to provide opportunities such as enhanced educational mentorship experiences that prepare students for successful PhD education and academic careers, travel to enhance research exposure, and research training under a mentor.

These individuals were recipients of the SPARC Award in 2010:

Christopher Bolinger, Texas Tech University
Primary Mentor: James Dembowski, Texas Tech University
Research Interest: Motoric articulation and linguistic deficits in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Melissa Boone, Marquette University
Primary Mentor: Steven Long, Marquette University
Research Interest: Language development and literacy skills in African American English speaking children and bilingual populations

Stephanie Davidson, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Primary Mentor: Tiffany Hogan, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Research Interest: Neuroimaging and its application to language and reading disorders in children

Lauren Eisenband, Vanderbilt University
Primary Mentor: Melanie Schuele, Vanderbilt University
Research Interest: Elicited language and syntax production in children

Tamika LeRay, Emerson College
Primary Mentor: Belinda Fusté-Herrmann, Emerson College
Research Interest: Clinical competence of SLPs working with children who speak African American English

Andre Lindsey, University of Texas–Austin
Primary Mentor: Joyce Harris, University of Texas–Austin
Research Interest: Recovery processes in acquired neurogenic language disorders in adults

Jaime Moore, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Primary Mentor: Susan Thibeault, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Research Interest: Elastin and treatment of scarred vocal folds

Stacey Rimikis, Queens College–CUNY
Primary Mentor: Lauren Calandruccio, Queens College–CUNY
Research Interest: Effect of competing speech signals on non-native English speakers' ability to recognize English speech in noise

Ryan Sovinski, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Primary Mentor: Jan Edwards, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Research Interest: Final consonant cluster reduction in African American English child-directed and adult-directed speech

Christine Williams, Vanderbilt University
Primary Mentor: Bernard Rousseau, Vanderbilt University
Research Interest: Voice treatment and compliance

Ashley Woodall, University of Texas–Austin
Primary Mentor: Chang Liu, University of Texas–Austin
Research Interest: Speech enhancement—better vowel formant discrimination in noise for people with hearing loss

Samantha Zickefoose, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Primary Mentor: Karen Hux, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Research Interest: Acquired language and cognitive disorders—attention remediation for severe TBI survivors