CIS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director of Clinical Education at the University of Wisconsin Madison
- Title
Dr. Hartman is the director of clinical education at the University of Wisconsin Madison. She is involved in all facets of Au.D. education and is committed to student training, particularly in the area of pediatric audiology. Her clinical passion is working with children with hearing loss, particularly audiologic assessments of infants and children, and central auditory processing evaluations. She is actively involved in local, state, regional and national initiatives to promote screening, early diagnosis, and treatment for children with hearing loss. She has been involved in multiple student research projects focusing on early hearing detection and intervention. She is involved in many outreach activities including out of hospital clinics for the Amish and Mennonite population in Wisconsin. Additional clinical services include hosting a dramatic play summer camp for children with hearing loss. Before working at the university, Dr. Hartman worked at a children's hospital, in a school setting and at a large otolaryngology clinic.
Dr. Sterling's research focuses on the development of language and cognitive skills in children and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Through her work she hope to inform both clinical work and theory on issues surrounding assessment and treatment of language, the impact of additional diagnoses on language and behavior, and overlap between syndromes. She works with families who have children with fragile X syndrome, autism spectrum disorders, and Down syndrome.
Dr. Parrell's research focuses on how the brain controls and produces the articulatory movements that create speech. This research incorporates speech behavior, neuroscience, and computational modelling to understand how speech motor control works in healthy speakers as well as speakers with neurological disorders, such as cerebellar ataxia. Students interested in working in the lab can apply online.
Beth Fentress - Beth received her bachelor's degree at the University of Kansas, where she majored in Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders and East Asian Studies. She is a second-year student in the Speech-Language-Pathology clinical MS program. She is interested in neurogenic disorders and the development of comprehensive diagnostic tools.
Carol Van ​Hulle - Carol earned her graduate degree in psychology with an emphasis on quantitative genetics from the University of Colorado. Dr. Van Hulle has been at UW for over 10 years and currently serves as a biostatistician with Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. She is interested in how speech and communication relate to markers of preclinical Alzheimer's disease.
Claire Terp - Claire is a fourth year undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders and pursing a certificate in Disability Rights and Services. She plans to attend graduate school for Speech-Language Pathology and is interested in working with the geriatric population. In lab, Claire works on transcribing speech samples, entering data for various projects, and updating the lab's social media accounts. Claire is very excited to be involved with CCANDL and is excited to continue learning from Dr. Mueller and other lab members.
Seidel, C. Identifying a Language Difference and/or Disorder in English Language Learners. Presented to the Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA) 6 ELL Staff. April, 2016.
Dr. Fowler's research addresses the causes and mechanisms of hearing loss in aging and age-related diseases, including dementia and diabetes. In diabetes, Professor Fowler's data suggest that accompanying hearing loss actually begins in the pre-diabetic stages, indicating that earlier treatment should be a focus.
Dr. Nicole Rogus-Pulia leads a research program focused on dysphagia, or swallowing dysfunction, in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The goal of Dr. Rogus-Pulia's work is to systematically identify and characterize factors underlying dysphagia in patients with AD and to translate these findings into treatments for maintaining quality of life and prevention of pneumonia onset for both veterans and the general population.
Elizabeth Schnell has 20 years of experience in a variety of settings from Birth to Three home-based therapy, Early Childhood, K-12 school, and private practice settings. As a bilingual speaker of English and Spanish she has a passion for working with multicultural populations, particularly during the diagnostic process. She has also provided school-based services within the context of fully-inclusive classrooms. Elizabeth was awarded the Wisconsin Speech Language Pathologist of the Year in 2017. She also received the Lois Gadd Nemec Elementary Education Alumni Award from the UW-Madison School of Education in 2016.
Emily Hines - Emily graduated with her undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from UW-Madison. She is a second year graduate student in the MS-SLP program. She is interested in working with individuals of all ages who have speech and/or language impairments.
Emma Gale - Emma received her undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in Psychology from Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is currently a second-year graduate student at UW-Madison pursuing a clinical MS in Speech-Language Pathology. She is interested in adult neurogenic communication disorders and hopes to work with that population in the future.
Erin Bruehlman - Erin is a senior undergraduate student majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders and pursuing a certificate in Education and Educational Services. She is looking forward to attending graduate school to become a speech-language pathologist and hopes to work with adult populations in a medical setting after graduation. She is currently working on her senior honors thesis with CCANDL that focuses on the potential relationship between sleep, Alzheimer's Disease biomarkers, and speech-language performance. She has a passion for the environment as well and is actively working to achieve a Green Lab Certification for CCANDL by enacting sustainability measures across the lab. Erin is thrilled to be part of the CCANDL team!
Esmma Almousa - Esmma is a third year undergraduate student majoring in Data Science and intends to pursue a certificate in Global Health. She is interested in data science applications to research topics in neuroscience. Esmma is excited to work with Dr. Mueller to use code to solve problems, apply data analysis to recognize speech patterns, and work alongside other lab members to learn from new perspectives.
Frances Violante - Frances is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin - Madison where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a certificate in Education and Educational Services. She plans to attend graduate school for speech-language pathology in the future. Her interests include early identification of Alzheimer's disease and increasing diversity among Alzheimer's disease research participants. She is excited to be involved with CCANDL and looks forward to working with Dr. Mueller and the CCANDL team members.
George Kostas - George is an undergraduate student studying Communication Sciences and Disorders and Spanish. His goal is to become a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Speech-Language Pathologist (NICU SLP) and research the effects dysphagia has on neonates of Latinx heritage. George has an interest in using his trilingual background (Greek, English and Spanish) to aid patients whose native language isn't English to help bridge the gap in health disparities in our field. He is grateful to be working for Dr. Mueller's lab and learning about issues patients face in getting access to Alzheimer's treatment through the DEI discussions.
Halley Dopp - Halley is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she received a bachelor's degree in both Spanish and Communication Sciences and Disorders. Starting in September 2021, she will start her graduate studies in Speech-Language Pathology at UW-Madison. She has an interest in working with Spanish-speaking populations in the U.S. who live with neurogenic communication disorders. Halley feels passionate about working with diverse groups of people and has enjoyed learning alongside her peers and Dr. Mueller.
Kathryn was an adjunct faculty member of Elmhurst College from 2005 - 2018, where she worked as a clinical educator and taught courses in clinical practicum, language development, articulation and phonological disorders, language problems in children, fluency, phonetics, counseling, and traumatic brain injury. She has presented to students, teachers, and other professionals on topics such as family-based intervention, parent coaching, facilitating language in the natural environment, return to learn protocol for children and adolescents with mild traumatic brain injury, and assessment and interventions for pediatric feeding disorders.
Molinaro, M., Broman, A. T., Rathouz, P. J., & Hustad, K. C. (2020). Longitudinal Development of Receptive Vocabulary in Children with Cerebral Palsy and Anarthria: Use of the MacArthur-Bates CDI. Developmental neurorehabilitation, 23(5), 285-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/17518423.2019.1646829. PMCID: PMC6986977
Kelly Longhini - Kelly is a third year undergraduate student completing her B.S. in Neurobiology with a certificate in Global Health. She intends to pursue a Master in Public Health program, and has interests in neurodegenerative diseases and the neurological pathways associated with memory and language. She is very excited to be involved in CCANDL to learn more about the intersections of communication, aging, and dementia.
Kimberly Mueller (Ph.D., CCC-SLP) - Dr. Mueller's research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms and behavioral aspects of speech and language changes across the spectrum of normal aging, preclinical Alzheimer's disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia, and other forms of dementia. Her work utilizes naturalistic speech-language samples as one means of analyzing and understanding subtle changes to communication. Dr. Mueller is also interested in the design and testing of identification methods of early cognitive change in the presence of AD biomarkers, and multimodal therapeutic interventions to address cognitive-communication difficulties in MCI and dementia due to neurodegenerative disease.
Leah Sanson-Miles - Leah earned her Bachelor's of Science in Clinicial Psychology from Edgewood College. Prior to joining CCANDL as Lab Manager, she worked as a study coordinator for the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center for nearly 6 years. During that time, she focused primarily on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and early detection of AD related biomarkers. Leah is interested in understanding changes to communication and how they relate to AD biomarkers, and the development of potential therapeutic interventions in those living with MCI and dementia.
Madeline Hale - Madeline received her bachelor's of science degree from the University of Texas at Dallas, double majoring in Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology and Neuroscience. She is entering her first year in the MS/PhD program in Speech-Language Pathology at UW-Madison. Madeline is interested in studying the cognitive-communication changes that result from neurodegenerative disease, specifically in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) dementia. She is especially interested in investigating measures of fluency as a possible early detection tool for subtle cognitive changes along the disease spectrum and their relation to AD biomarkers.
Braden, M.N., & Thibeault, S.L. (2020). Outcomes of voice therapy in children with benign vocal fold lesions. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 136, 110121. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2020.110121
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Title: Professor
Dr. Kaushanskaya is a Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences Disorders of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She graduated with a BA in Linguistics and Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She then moved to the Midwest, and got both her M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology and her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University. Dr. Kaushanskaya leads and supervises research that goes on in the Language Acquisition and Bilingualism Lab.
Margarita Kaushanskaya's research aims to improve diagnostic practices for children who speak English as a second language, and who therefore cannot be tested using tools developed for monolingual English-speaking children. Because early diagnosis of a language difficulty is key to successful intervention and to the child's ultimate quality of life, identifying ways to accurately index bilingual children's development can make a significant contribution to public health.
Michelle Ciucci's research focuses on the neurobiological and behavioral underpinnings of motor control for voice and swallowing. Using clinical and basic science models, she explores how degenerative neurologic diseases, such as Parkinson Disease, affect these functions. This work may lead to new interventions to relieve the symptoms of PD, and potentially modify the progression of the disease.
Nadine Connor's research focuses on the role of aging, and on treatments such as exercise, in reversing or preventing age-related changes in cranial muscles. Real-world benefit comes from better knowledge of how currently used treatments may affect swallowing and voice disorder outcomes.
Phoebe Crumpton - Phoebe received her bachelor's degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She will be a first-year graduate student at UW-Madison working towards a clinical MS in Speech-Language Pathology. She is interested in the medical side of Speech-Language Pathology and is passionate about helping solve diversity, equity, and inclusion issues within the field of Speech-Language Pathology.
Ruth Litovsky's research studies binaural hearing in persons who have normal hearing and in persons who are deaf and use cochlear implants (CIs). Her team is interested in whether CI users can benefit from having two (bilateral) CIs and whether, for children, having bilateral CIs at a young age offers unique advantages.
Dr. Boothalingam is an audiologist and a researcher. His research is geared towards understanding the functional relevance of the auditory brain's feedback systems, called efferents, in both adults and children. He uses non-invasive tools such as otoacoustic emissions (OAEs; sounds generated by healthy ears) and electroencephalography (EEG) to measure efferent activity in the auditory system. In addition, he is also interested in developing clinical tools to objectively evaluate both the auditory afferent and efferent systems.
Susan Ellis Weismer's research investigates the developmental course and nature of language processing in atypical language learners compared to those with typical language development. Her work focuses on late talkers, children with specific language impairment (SLI), and young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
With principal investigators Susan Ellis Weismer, Jan Edwards, and Jenny Saffran, learning language is one of the most fascinating things children do during their early years. From day one, children are Little Listeners who use the words they hear from family and friends to help them accomplish the amazing task of learning language. Even though most children pick up language with relative ease, some kids, including those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), struggle to understand and develop language. The goal of the Little Listeners Project is to better understand why some children with ASD have such a difficult time learning language, and what we might be able to do to help.
Dr. Thibeault's translational research investigates molecular and genetic factors that are the basis of normal vocal fold tissue and its vibration. Dr. Thibeault studies vocal fold injury and wound healing as a disordered model. Specifically, Dr. Thibeault's lab has two main areas of study - tissue engineering of the vocal fold lamina propria and laryngeal immunology. The lab has developed unique primary and immortalized human cell lines, in addition to vibrational bioreactors to aid in the research pursuit.
Tanna Brubaker -Tanna is a fourth year undergraduate studying Communication Sciences and Disorders. She plans to attend graduate school to become a Speech-Language Pathologist. She is interested in working with the geriatric population and or the school age population. This is Tanna's first experience working in a lab. Tanna is very excited to work with Dr. Mueller and other lab members.
Dr. Easwar's research focuses on typical auditory development, the impact of hearing loss, and the effect of using prostheses like hearing aids on auditory development using EEG techniques.