Students Preparing for Academic and Research Careers (SPARC) Award Recipients

The SPARC Award is offered as part of ASHA's Strategic Objective to Increase Research Commitment. The goal of SPARC is to foster students' interest in the pursuit of PhD education and careers in academia in order to fill faculty/researcher vacancies in communication sciences and disorders (CSD). It allows students to prepare for successful PhD education and exciting careers in research and teaching. The SPARC Award gives students an opportunity to participate in teaching and research with guidance from a mentor and travel to enhance teaching and research exposure.

2011 SPARC Recipients

Shrutee Bhatt, Louisiana State University
Primary Mentor: Annette Hurley, Louisiana State University
Teaching Activity: Prepare lecture for "Unlocking Key to Audiogram," attend seminar on "Teaching by Case Studies"
Research Interest: Effect of contralateral noise on the late auditory evoked potentials in children at-risk for Central Auditory Processing Disorder

Felicidad Garcia, Teachers College–Columbia University
Primary Mentor: Karen Froud, Teachers College–Columbia University
Teaching Activity: Guest lecture graduate course and participate in team mentorship for new lab members
Research Interest: Neural correlates of African American English and standard American English language processing

Christopher Garron, University of Massachusetts–Amherst
Primary Mentor: Sarah Poissant, University of Massachusetts–Amherst
Teaching Activity: Assist with teaching undergraduate course, proctor exams and grade written assignments
Research Interest: Psychoacoustics

Jennifer Lee, Texas State University
Primary Mentor: Alisha Richmond, Texas State University
Teaching Activity: Review current literature on teaching techniques, guest lecture and learn about KASA
Research Interest: Intervention models for Children with autism spectrum disorders

Ryan Millager, Vanderbilt University
Primary Mentor: Edward Conture, Vanderbilt University
Teaching Activity: Participate in Vanderbilt's Future Faculty Preparation Program, Interview tenure track faculty
Research Interest: Attentional regulation and intratest scatter of expressive language in children who stutter

Sarah Panjwani, University of Texas–Austin
Primary Mentor: Li Cheng, University of Texas–Austin
Teaching Activity: Assist with developing lectures for undergraduate and graduate courses
Research Interest: Bilingualism

Chelsea Pettibone, Northeastern University
Primary Mentor: Kevin Reilly, Northeastern University
Teaching Activity: Assist with teaching Neuroscience of communication course, conduct office hours, provide tutoring via online discussion forums using Blackboard
Research Interest: Auditory feedback control for speech using real-time perturbation of vowel formants

Stefanie Rutledge, Indiana University
Primary Mentor: Laura Murray, Indiana University
Teaching Activity: Guest lecture, train research assistants and participate in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) seminars
Research Interest: Reading comprehension in Parkinson's disease

Joseph Smith, University of South Alabama
Primary Mentor: Kellie Evans, University of South Alabama
Teaching Activity: Assist teaching an "Introduction to Communication Disorders" course, develop test questions
Research Interest: Interpretation of verbal and non-verbal courtship rules in males with and without traumatic brain injury

Joanne White, Vanderbilt University
Primary Mentor: Melanie Schuele, Vanderbilt University
Teaching Activity: Assist teaching "Research article analysis" portion of Child Language Course, interview faculty about teaching skills
Research Interest: Speech sound disorders in children

Previous SPARC Recipients

2010 Recipients

2009 Recipients

2008 Recipients

2007 Recipients

2006 Recipients

2005 Recipients

2004 Recipients