Mandy J Maguire, Ph.D.

Dr. Maguire's research interests include studying children's typical language development through behavioral and electrophysiological responses. Her primary goal is to study the neurological underpinnings of typical language development as a foundation for better understanding language disorders and delays. To learn more about the current research in the lab, see our "Studies" page. For a list of Dr. Maguire's publications, see "Publications."

Dr. Maguire received her undergraduate degree in psychology at Penn State University where she focused on cognition and development. Following a year as a research assistant in Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging, she began the Developmental Psychology PhD program at Temple University. There she worked with Kathy Hirsh-Pasek studying semantic development in children, focusing primarily on verb learning. In her dissertation she identified various cues that children use to learn new verbs, and then extended that work with English speaking children to those learning Japanese and Spanish. Dr. Maguire then returned to her work in cognitive neuroscience during a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Louisville in the Developmental Neuroscience Lab where her primary work included collecting data for a longitudinal study of early EEG markers of later reading disabilities. Since starting at the University of Texas at Dallas her work she has worked to combine behavioral and neurolinguisic techniques to better understand typical language development.

Alyson Abel, Ph.D.

Dr. Alyson Abel is a postdoctoral research at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders. Dr. Abel earned her PhD from the Child Language Doctoral Program at the University of Kansas, an MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Vanderbilt University and a BA in Psychology/Linguistics from Emory University. Dr. Abel's research interests are in word learning, specifically verb learning, and interactions between verb learning and other linguistic areas in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment.

 

Graduate Students

Lynda Sides is a doctoral student in Cognition and Neuroscience at UTD. She received her B.A. in Psychology, earned a master’s degree from Ohio State University in Guidance and Counseling, and worked as a counselor for a number of years. She recently earned an M.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology from Eastern New Mexico University, using electrophysiological and florescence imaging techniques to study the interaction of nitric oxide and dopamine on Helix aspersa neurons. Her current research interests include the electrophysiological investigation of neural signatures accompanying word class representation in the cerebrum.

Anna Fitzhugh is a doctoral student in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at the University of Texas at Dallas. She earned her M.A. in Psychology at San Diego State University in 2010, with an emphasis in cognitive and linguistic development. She achieved certification as a Certified Academic Language Practitioner in 2008, and earned a B.A. in Psychology in 2006 at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her current interests include the psychological and neurological mechanisms involved in learning disabilities, particularly dyslexia.

Julie Schneider is a master's student in the Applied Cognition and Neuroscience program at UTD. She received her B.A. in English with a minor in Psychology from Texas Tech University. Her current research focuses on the use of Event Related Potentials and Time Frequency Analysis to better understand grammaticality errors in children with Specific Language Impairment. She plans to continue her education by receiving a PhD in Psychological Sciences with a focus on grammaticality and semantics in children with language disorders.

Nella Nicho is a master's student in Applied Cognition and Neuroscience program at UT-Dallas. She received a B.A in Psychology and B.S in Biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her research interests include emotional regulation and memory, psychological disorders, and language acquisition. She plans to pursue her Ph.D. in Clinical psychology and specialize in Neuropsychology.

 

Undergraduates

Angela Kim is a senior undergraduate student at UTD, majoring in Speech Pathology & Audiology and Child Development. She intends on going to graduate school in order to become a licensed clinician as a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Fizza Naqvi is a senior at UTD with a major in Neuroscience. She previously worked at a neuroplasticity lab with Dr. Kilgard and has recently joined Callier Center to work with Dr. Maguire. After graduating from UTD, she would like to earn her masters in health care management before applying to medical school, where she intends to apply her knowledge from the lab toward becoming a pediatrician.

Tracy L. Shreve is an accomplished auctioneer who sold her business in 2007. After completing five years with the new company she retired from the industry and chose to return to academia. She is currently working on her undergrad in Psychology with a minor in Early Childhood Development. Her interests are learning disorders in young children.

 

Lab Coordinator

Grant Magnon received his B.A. from Princeton University and is currently the lab coordinator for Dr. Maguire. His research interests include language acquisition and the development of related cognitive processes (attention and memory, with a focus on semantic encoding).

McKenna Jackson is an undergraduate student at UTD pursuing a degree in Speech and Language Pathology. After completing her degree in December 2012 she hopes to become a certified Speech & Language Pathologist. Her current research investigates the neural correlates of visual and verbal matching/mismatching nouns in children.