Research Interests

My current research concerns learning about early literacy acquisition through student interactions with research-based game environments. I am working on applying and refining statistical models of time-series analysis to advance understanding of early literacy development through analysis of children’s interactions with a digital reading support that provides practice and explicit instruction in core skills - Amplify Reading. This project could use the data from games that assess vocabulary, morphology, word reading and reading comprehension.

My work will advance the fields of psychology and education by testing theory-derived hypotheses about specific relations among reading components and inform the development of effective curricula and intervention for beginner readers. It will inform statistical research by testing and refining techniques to identify change in complex developing dynamic systems. This cross-disciplinary PhD project requires me to link specific psychological theories to my own mathematical background, to inform the statistical methodology needed to test the specific psychological theories.