Members of the Laboratory

Richard Hurtig, PhD, Principal Investigator richard-hurtig@uiowa.edu
Richard Hurtig directs the Psychology of Language Lab. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from New York University and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Hurtig served as chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders for nine years. He teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in Psycholinguistics as well as a course on Designing Assistive Devices. His research interests lie in the areas of speech perception and cognitive neuroscience, emergent literacy, as well as the development of assistive technologies.

Carolyn Brown, PhD brownzimmer@southslope.net
Carolyn Brown is the creator of the Breakthrough to Literacy literacy program, a comprehensive computer assisted reading program designed to increase student early-literacy skills. Her contribution to the Climbers project includes experimental design and analysis of data relating to child literacy.

Nancy Ewald Jackson, PhD nancy-jackson@uiowa.edu
Nancy Jackson is a Professor Emeritus in Iowa's College of Education. Her research interests include individual differences in reading acquisition; reading English as a second language; reading in non-alphabetic orthographies; and development of intellectual giftedness.

Vanessa Mueller, PhD vtmueller@utep.edu
Vanessa Mueller is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.  Her research interests include using technology to enhance the early literacy experiences and overall language abilities of bilingual children, Deaf children, and children with autism.

Marie Roch, PhD marie.roch@sdsu.edu
Marie Roch is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at San Diego State University. Her research interests are in the application and development of machine learning algorithms to solve problems in the automatic processing and categorization of audio. Prior to her current appointment, Professor Roch has held positions at Florida International University and AT&T Bell Laboratories. She is a member of ACM, ASA, IEEE, IEEE Signal Processing Society, and ISCA.

Julie Ostrem, MBA julie-ostrem@uiowa.edu
Julie Ostrem contributes her professional interests in research administration and communications to the Psychology of Language Lab. She also serves in external relations for the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, taking on such tasks as website creation and maintenance. She welcomes challenging her management abilities with the coordination of thousands of writing samples from children in the Chicago Public Schools.

Arik Wald, MCS arik-wald1@uiowa.edu
Arik Wald contributes his talents as a computer programmer by developing customized applications for experiments according to the given requirements and assisting others in obtaining the right tools for developing the applications. He is a big proponent of using a systematic development process where requirements are analyzed and applications are tested for correctness. He earned his master's degree in computer science and software in 2006 from The University of Iowa.

Rebecca Alper, Doctoral candidate rebecca-alper@uiowa.edu
Rebecca Alper is an MA / PhD student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at The University of Iowa.  She earned her bachelor's degree in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at Purdue University.  Rebecca is interested in incorporating technology into the development of family-based literacy interventions for "at-risk" children.

Debora Downey, Doctoral candidate debora-downey@uiowa.edu
Debora Downey is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at The University of Iowa. She earned a master's degree in speech-language pathology from the University of Northern Colorado. She works at Iowa's Center for Disabilities and Development where she heads the AAC team.

Lauren Zubow, Doctoral candidate lauren.danna@gmail.com
Lauren Zubow is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at The University of Iowa. She earned her master's degree in speech-language pathology from The University of Iowa. Lauren is interested in researching clinical decision making in augmentative communication, and the implementation of augmentative communication services in the acute care setting.

Laura Bohnenkamp is a graduate student in the speech-language pathology program and currently working in the lab as a research assistant. She is interested in the design and implementation of augmentative and alternative communication strategies for children with developmental disorders and autism spectrum disorders.

Emily Czerniejewski is a first year master's student; she completed her undergrad degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Iowa in May 2010.  She is working in the lab on her master's thesis; a current project is to develop and implement an alternative and augmentative communication device for Deaf patients in the hospital setting to express bedside communication needs when interpreters are not available.

Nicole Kindred is currently a master's student in the speech-language pathology program, working in the lab as a research assistant. She is especially interested in neurogenic communication disorders, as well as the art and science of human communication in general.

Allison Temple is currently a master's student in the speech-language pathology program, working in the lab as a research assistant. She is interested in communication disorders, currently exploring various areas in which to specialize.