UI Communication Sciences and Disorders: E-News

Department News

CSD congratulates the classes of 2013!

2013 AuD graduates

MA SLP class of 2013

2013 Undergraduate Honor Students, shown with Amanda Van Horne, Director of Departmental Honors

ProSeminar complete for spring semester.

Iowa Smart Switch wins Storer prize
Iowa's College of Engineering announced that the student business plan for a company named "Iowa Smart Switch" is the winner of its 2012-13 Hubert E. Storer Engineering Student Entrepreneurial Start-up Award.The company plans to improve the quality of life for individuals with disabilities by developing high technology devices. These devices include an intelligent switch that can recognize a range of inputs from hospital patients with physical communication disabilities and enables these patients to better communicate and experience a greater quality of care.

The business and engineering student team was mentored by Richard Hurtig.

The Storer prize provides $10,000 of initial financial support, funded by an endowed gift from College of Engineering alumnus Hubert E. Storer (BS 1959 industrial engineering).

Bryan Brown, PhD student, was featured in an article in the March 25, 2013, edition of the Daily Iowan. In the article, he describes an early intervention therapy method for children who stutter. The full article may be seen on-line at the Daily Iowan website.

Rachel Scheperle was awarded an F31 grant from the NIH for her dissertation project, entitled "Contributions of Peripheral Spatial Resolution to Speech Perception in Cochlear Implant Users."

Way to go, Rachel!

Liz Delsandro wins Collegiate funding for "Be Social" project
Liz Delsandro was awarded funding to further develop "Be Social," a project for clinical training and community engagement concerning autism spectrum disorders. Funds from the College’s Excellence & Innovation provide support for instructional materials, and the College's Instructional Technology will provide the technology needed for high-quality interventions to be used in clinical instruction.

Congratulations, Liz!

Melissa Duff mentors young women in innovative program
In a December 5, 2012, issue of Iowa Now, a partnership between the laboratory of Melissa Duff and a dayschool in Texas is featured. In the article, Duff describes her experience mentoring two 16-year-old female students interested in the field of neuroscience. The young women spent two weeks working with Duff and her graduate students her lab last July.

Bryan Brown has been named a fellow in the Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement to attend a one-week interdisciplinary academy in which University of Iowa graduate students across colleges and departments explore how civic engagement can enhance teaching, research, and creative work.

Julia Hollister was awarded a ASHA New Century Scholar Award from the ASHA Foundation.

Ben Kirby was named a recipient of the ASHA New Century Scholars Award.

Ben was also awarded a National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein Individual Pre-Doctoral Fellowshipan F31 grant "Impact of Hearing Aid Frequency Compression on Cortical Evoked Potentials and Psychophysical Performance".

Samantha Shune was awarded an F31 to complete her doctoral study on the"Effects of aging on anticipatory functional synergies activated in deglutition". It was funded through the National Institute on Aging.

Congratulations Samantha!

Carolyn Brown and Jerry Zimmermann honored as Distinguished Alumni
Jerry Zimmermann (PhD '73) and Carolyn Brown (PhD '81) were honored as the Department's 2012 Distinguished Alumni recipients October 19. Their talk was entitled The journey from Wendell's to the real world of the schools. Richard Hurtig presented the awards on behalf of the Department.

Students, Mentor win awards
Ian Mertes was awarded the William F Austin Starkey Scholarship. Caitin Sapp was awarded the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) Empowering People Scholarship. Melissa Duff and Natalie Vanderveen won an ASHA Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Award. Britany Barber was awarded the 2012 Delta Zeta Foundation Speech and Hearing scholarship. The AUD faculty selected Britany Barber and Curtis Hartling as the 2012 recipients of the Laurel Stanzel scholarship awards.

Congratulations to all!

UI SPEAKS summer program highlighted
UI SPEAKS summer engagement program, the Department's camp for children who stutter, was featured in Iowa Now.

Schmitt, Norman winners in essay competition
Kendra Schmitt and Emily Norman were selected as winners of the ASHA Student Ethics Essay competition for 2012. Kendra was awarded 1st prize for her essay, “Impaired Practitioners: A Collective Call for Action.” Emily was awarded 3rd prize for her essay “The Role of the Individual and National Association in the Prevention of Compromised Patient Care due to Impaired Practitioners.” The awards carry with them monetary prizes.

China Project website launched
Students and faculty have developed a website to raise awareness of the project and streamline monetary donations. Check it out! www.uiowa.edu/~china.

PhD Program in Speech and Hearing Sciences: Beginning with Fall 2009 admissions, applications to the PhD program are submitted via the Biosciences Centralized Application System. This electronic application system streamlines the admissions process for 13 Iowa PhD training programs, including the Speech and Hearing Science PhD Program.

The electronic application system transmits your file directly to the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Admission Committee for evaluation. This application is FREE.

Questions regarding the Speech and Hearing Science PhD Program within the Department of Communication Disorders should be addressed to Mary Jo Yotty (mary-yotty@uiowa.edu, 319 335 8719).

For questions regarding admissions procedures please email biosciences@uiowa.edu.