• Patricia and Rodes Hart Endowed Chair
• Associate Professor of Special Education, Psychology, Radiology, and Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University
• Director of the Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab at Vanderbilt University
• laurie.cutting@vanderbilt.edu

Dr. Cutting received her degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 1997 from Northwestern University. During her doctoral work at Northwestern University, she completed internships at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, Yale University School of Medicine's Center for Learning and Attention, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.  After receiving her doctorate, Dr. Cutting subsequently completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in Developmental Cognitive Neurology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Cutting then joined the Kennedy Krieger Institute as a Research Scientist and faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  In 2002-2003, she completed an AAAS Executive Branch Science Policy fellowship.  Prior to moving to Vanderbilt, Dr. Cutting was an Associate Professor of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and an Associate Professor of Education at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Cutting moved to Vanderbilt University in September 2009 and is currently a Patricia and Rodes Hart Endowed Chair. She is an Associate Professor of Special Education, Psychology, Radiology, and Pediatrics. Dr. Cutting is the Director of the Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab at Vanderbilt University, which conducts research regarding neurobiology and the treatment of reading disabilities.

• Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Special Education, Vanderbilt University
• Senior Research Scientist of the Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab at Vanderbilt University
• sheryl.l.rimrodt@vanderbilt.edu

Dr. Sheryl L. Rimrodt is a developmental pediatrician with board certification in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. She obtained her B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from Stanford University, her M.D. from University of California, San Diego, and her post-doctoral training in Neurodevelopmental Disabililties at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. While at Johns Hopkins, Sheryl was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Research Scientist within the Kennedy Krieger Institute, Developmental Cognitive Neurology, Education and Brain Research Program (EBRP). Her current appointments are as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Special Education, Vanderbilt University and Senior Research Scientist of the Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab at Vanderbilt University.

• Associate Director of the Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab at Vanderbilt University
• Research Assistant Professor
• nicole.davis@vanderbilt.edu

Dr. Davis obtained dual Ph.D.s in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences and in Neuroscience from University of Colorado – Boulder. Her graduate research work focused on the clinical evaluation of phonological processing in school age children. Upon graduation, she entered a two-year long postdoctoral fellowship in Biobehavioral Intervention Training at Vanderbilt. Her fellowship training focused on investigating the structural and functional correlates of mathematical and reading disabilities in school age children and the response of these neural correlates to intervention. Upon completion of this fellowship, she pursued an additional postdoctoral year at the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science to hone her knowledge of advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques. During this year, she completed her own MRI study investigating the neurobiological correlates of children’s response to reading instruction. Currently she is a Research Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt.

• Associate Professor of Pediatrics
• Licensed Developmental Psychologist
• Psychological Assessment Coordinator, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
• evon.lee@vanderbilt.edu

Dr. Lee received her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from Vanderbilt University. She joined the faculty of the Department of Pediatrics in the Vanderbilt School of Medicine in 1981 and began working in the Division of Child Development where she conducted developmental and psychological assessments of infants and children with a wide range of developmental disabilities as part of a multidisciplinary team. Her clinical experiences expanded to include evaluations of children who were born prematurely in the NICU Follow-up Clinic, children with significant hearing impairments through a Cochlear Implant Team, and children with autism spectrum disorders. She served as Principal Investigator for the Greater Nashville District of the Tennessee Early Intervention System from 2000-2007 and is currently the Psychological Assessment Coordinator for the Participant Recruitment and Assessment Core of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, a core faculty member on the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center’s LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities) Training Project, and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics.

• Post-Doctoral Fellow, Education Brain Sciences Research Lab
• Clinical Fellow, Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics
• dwayne.dove@vanderbilt.edu

Dwayne’s research focuses on Kindergarten children by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the brain pathways that are critical for pre-reading skills and early literacy. This work is part of his post-doctoral training in neuroimaging, neurobehavioral assessment, and clinical research. His clinical training includes an MD, training in general pediatrics, and ongoing training in developmental-behavioral pediatrics. Dwayne’s clinical practice will focus on the developmental, behavioral, and learning disorders that cause school difficulties in young school-age children. All parts of his career are centered on an interest in how children learn in school.

• Visiting Fulbright Scholar, 2012-2013
• Co-Director, Joint Center for Child Development and Learning, Peking University-Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Peking University
• mengxzh@pku.edu.cn

Dr. Meng is a selected 2012-013 Fulbright Visiting Scholar, hosted by the EBRL while conducting her research project entitled "Cross-cultural Investigation on Perceptual Learning in Chinese and English-Speaking Developmental Dyslexia." Her proposed project focuses on visual and auditory perceptual learning in Chinese-speaking and English-speaking children with dyslexia. She will spend 10 months in our lab performing research; after returning to China, Dr. Meng proposes to use the research collected in the United States to help in the understanding of the universality and specificity of the underlying mechanism of dyslexia. Dr. Meng received her Ph.D in cognitive psychology from Beijing Normal University (Beijing, China) and her M.A. in educational psychology from Shandong Normal University (Jinan, Shandong, China).

• Project Coordinator
• laura.barquero@vanderbilt.edu

Laura is a doctoral student in Special Education. She received her M.S. in Biology from Middle Tennessee State University and worked in labs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the Department of Hematology/Oncology and the Department of Stem Cell Biology before beginning her PhD program. Her current research interests include reading difficulties, response to reading intervention, and functional neuroimaging.

• Project Coordinator
• bobette.d.bouton@vanderbilt.edu

Bobette is a doctoral student in Middle School Education at the University of Georgia. She received her M.A. in Curriculum and Design from Vanderbilt University and worked in labs at VanderbiltUniversity Special Education Department before beginning her PhD program. Her current research interests include socio-emotional development in young adolescence.

• Doctoral Student
• mary.e.story@vanderbilt.edu

Mary is currently working on her Doctorate Degree in Special Education. She received her B.S. in Secondary Education in May 2000 from Baylor University and her M.Ed. in School Counseling in May 2005 from Dallas Baptist University. Mary joined the EBRL in August 2012, and her research interests including teacher preparation, writing disabilities and teacher quality.

• Research Assistant
• allison.broadwater@vanderbilt.edu

Allison's primary responsibilities in the EBRL include assessment of research participants, scoring participant protocols, and data entry/analysis. Allison is currently pursuing her M.Ed in Child Studies at Peabody College of Education and Human Development focusing on cognitive development and education, with an expected graduation date of May 2013. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College in Boston, and plans to continue research application - similar to work being done in the EBRL - to school settings, either as a teacher or an administrator.

• Neuroimaging Analyst
• scott.s.burns@vanderbilt.edu

Scott's primary responsibilities include the design, implementation and analysis of MRI studies across various subject populations and writing research articles and posters. He is also developing a few internal software packages to assist in analyzing previously completed neuroimaging projects. His research interests include the development of scalable, easy to use image analysis systems and the associated image processing algorithms. Scott received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL and his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in Saint Louis. Previously, he worked at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in affiliation with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA.

• Research Assistant
• alexander.s.dagley@vanderbilt.edu

Alex's responsibilities include assisting with python scripts for the automated data processing pipeline and scanning participants. Alex received his B.A in Cognitive Science in May 2011 from the University of Virginia. Alex’s research interests include neuroimaging, informatics, and functionality of the prefrontal cortex

• Research Analyst
• julie.delheimer@vanderbilt.edu

Julie’s primary responsibilities include recruiting, consenting, and intake screening of research participants, as well as the daily progress for most of Dr. Cutting’s projects. Although she started out with dreams of becoming an elementary school teacher, Julie ultimately received her B.S in Psychology in May 1985 from University of Illinois. After many years of working as a Research Analyst in Adult Psychology research at the University of Illinois and Vanderbilt, in December 2010 she transferred to VU Special Education with EBRL. Julie enjoys finding new ways to make the research experience in the lab enjoyable and rewarding for the children and their families.

• Research Assistant
• kelsey.d.dreier@vanderbilt.edu

• Research Assistant
• Graduate Student of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University
• Qiuyun.fan@vanderbilt.edu

Qiuyun is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering. She joined EBRL in Fall 2009 and obtained her MS degree in Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University in May 2011. Qiuyun's work focuses on MR method development, image processing, and data analyzing. Her research interests include Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI), and neurocorrelates of reading ability.

• Research Analyst
• erin.g.fish@vanderbilt.edu

Erin joined the EBRL in May 2012. Her responsibilities in the lab include providing operational and logistical support, administering reading comprehension test batteries, and working with the lab’s research team to recruit participants for ongoing research studies. Erin obtained her M.Ed in Human Development Counseling (Clinical Mental Health track) from Vanderbilt University in May 2012, and graduated with her B.A. in International Relations from Michigan State University in May 2007.

• Program Coordinator
• heather.c.harris@vanderbilt.edu

Heather’s primary responsibilities include assessment of participants both on and off campus and data management. Heather received her M.Ed in Elementary Education in May 2012 from Lipscomb University, where she also received her B.S. in Marketing and Management. Heather’s research interests include reading disabilities and English Language Learners.

• Research Assistant
• james.d.moore@vanderbilt.edu

James is completing his M.Ed. in International Education Policy and Management within Peabody College. He works as a research assistant on Dr. Sheryl Rimrodt’s Adult Reading Nonsense (ARN) study, which focuses on brain biology of reading for adult readers between the ages of 18-24.

• Research Assistant
• elizabeth.a.peters@vanderbilt.edu

Sissy’s responsibilities in the EBRL include recruiting and testing research participants, data entry/analysis and managing the Adult Passage/ Morphology study. Sissy is currently pursuing her M.Ed. in High Incidence Special Education at Peabody College of Education and Human Development and expects to graduate in May 2013. She received her B.A. in psychology and education from the University of Notre Dame in 2011. Sissy plans to continue “fighting” to find the best cognitive interventions for students with Learning Disabilities either in a teaching or research setting.

• Clinical Research Coordinator
• hannah.g.rowland@vanderbilt.edu

Hannah graduated with her M.Ed in Human Development Counseling from Vanderbilt University in August 2012.

• Research Assistant
• denise.m.schmidt@vanderbilt.edu

Denise's primary responsibilities in the lab include assessment of research participants, scoring participant protocols, and data entry/analysis. Denise is currently pursuing her M.Ed. in Child Studies at Vanderbilt University with an expected graduation date of May 2013. She is working toward attaining certification as a child life specialist, which would allow her to support and advocate for hospitalized children and families. Denise received her B.S. in Mass Communications from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in spring 2011.

• Research Assistant
• lilia.g.schulenberg@vanderbilt.edu

• Research Assistant
• liliana.wagner@vanderbilt.edu

Lily's primary responsibilities in the EBRL include assessment of research participants, scoring participant protocols, and data entry/analysis. Lily is currently pursuing her M.Ed in Child Studies and Applied Behavior Analysis at Vanderbilt University, with an expected graduation date of May 2013. She received her B.A. from Emerson College in Boston, and plans to pursue her PhD in School Psychology in the Fall of 2013. Her research interests include instructional and behavioral strategies for children with autism and related disabilities, as well as caregiver and teacher training.

• Research Assistant
• marissa.zimmel@vanderbilt.edu

Marissa is a first year High Incidence SPED Master's student at Vanderbilt and started working as a Research Assistant in the lab in August 2012. Marissa assists with organizing participant files, decoding computer tasks, and supporting colleagues with assessment administration. Marissa earned her B.A. from Stonehill College in 2010 and is particularly interested in intervention programs and students with reading disabilities.