People
Meet Our Team!
Dr. Jason Chow
Jason Chow is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù at College Park. His work focuses on language, social, and behavioral development, peer networks, supporting teachers and speech-language pathologists/therapists, implementation and sustainability of early learning and social/behavioral interventions, and meta-analysis. His work is supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences and Office of Special Education Programs and the American Psychological Association. Jason is co-director of the UMD Language and Literacy Research Center, research fellow in the Minority Education, Recruitment, Retention and Equity Center (MERREC), and a research affiliate at the Centre for Inclusive Education at Queensland University of Technology. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions and Remedial and Special Education.
Dr. Robin Sayers
Dr. Robin Sayers is a postdoctoral researcher at The º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù. She recently completed a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the Ohio State University. Her primary research interests focus on young children's relationships with teachers and peers and understanding individual differences in teacher-child relationships both in what impacts their formation and their effects on learning and development. Additionally, Dr. Sayers' work focuses on conducting practical and applicable research that supports educators in understanding and applying evidence-based practices in the classroom.
Robin is a former elementary teacher with experience teaching 3rd- and 5th-grade.
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Yang Fu
Yang Fu is a doctoral student in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education at º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù, College Park majoring in special º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù and teaching. She completed her master degree at Boston University. Her research interests are in finding effective methods to support students with mild & moderate disabilities (i.e learning disabilities, emotional disturbance), especially supporting culturally and linguistically diverse learners who have special needs. In addition, she is interested in helping students with challenging behaviors, and supporting teachers to deliver evidence based instructions. Yang is a former special educator teaching 3rd grade.
Luis Royo Romero
Luis Royo Romero is a doctoral student in the department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership with an emphasis in Mathematics Education at the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù. He holds a master’s in Teaching in Secondary Mathematics from Loyola University Maryland, a master’s in Physics from Bowling Green State University, and a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics from High Point University. His current research focuses on how policies, teacher pedagogies, and classroom ecology impact multilingual-multicultural students’ outcomes in K-12 mathematics. Luis is a former high school math teacher and undergraduate physics lab instructor.
Carlos Williams
Carlos Williams is a Doctoral Student in the Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership with an emphasis in Educational Policy and Leadership program at the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù, College Park. He holds a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research interests include zero tolerance policies and how they disproportionately affect minority student achievement in k-12 school systems. He is a first generation student advocate and enjoys creating equitable experiences for the disadvantaged.
Anisha Singh
Anisha graduated with a master’s degree in English from the University of Delhi, India. She then moved to the United States and completed a second Masters in International Education from George Washington University before starting her PhD in Educational Psychology at the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù. Her research focuses on reading across different media (with a special interest in audiobooks), multiple source use in online environments, and the effects of multilingualism in digital communication. In the free time she gets as a doctoral student she cares for her baby and works on craft projects!
Kathy Robens
Kathy Robens received her most recent master’s degree in Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation from the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù in 2020. Her research interests include identifying interventions to improve the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëùal outcomes for disadvantaged students, and students in general. Ms. Robens is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher and former high school statistics teacher. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, writing, and watercolor painting and spending time with her family and friends.
Jiali Chen
Jiali is in her first year pursuing a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, specializing in world language º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù (Chinese). Prior to that, Jiali received her first master’s degree from the University of Hong Kong where she studied comparative and global studies in º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù and development. She enjoys being in the classroom and she is interested in curriculum design and implementation. Nature is what she loves the most.
Sarah Comer
Sarah received her undergraduate degree from Clemson University and Masters degree at the University of Georgia where she studied provider-patient communication in the context of motivational interviewing to encourage behavior change. After graduate school, Sarah spent two years working for the National University of Singapore researching health access in southeast Asia and designing health programs for immigrant workers. Her work centered around developing program evaluation coding systems, managing translators to facilitate multi-lingual focus groups, and performing analyses on communication behaviors in public health and primary care settings. She then spent the next eight years working in consulting and executive recruiting in healthcare across the U.S. She is currently a Masters student at the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù working to pursue her passion to become a speech-language pathologist. Sarah lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband who works for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Durga Singh
Durga is a sophomore majoring in General Biology at the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù. She has been working in the Tri-3 Lab since February 2022 and is currently exploring the relationship between students’ pragmatic skills and the strength of their other cognitive abilities (ex. working memory, mental flexibility, visual processing). Durga is also involved with data entry, data verification, and now, data cleaning. On campus, she is on the executive board of S.C.A.L.E. (Science Competitions Advocating for Learning Equity) and designs challenges to help PG County students better engage with their science curriculum. In her (limited) free time, she loves to watch anime and spend time exploring campus!
Kaelyn Betterton
Kaelyn Betterton is a senior, psychology major at the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù. She has plans to get her masters in social work and become a therapist post-grad. Her specific psychology interests include adolescent psychological development and clinical psychology. In her free time she loves to read, cook and spend time in nature.
Emily Woodie
Emily is a senior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Disability Studies. After completing her undergraduate studies, she plans to pursue a master's in Special Education. Her research interests include Universal Design in º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù and the workplace and the effects of autistic masking on social-emotional health. This is her first semester in the Tri-Lab.
Anjali Justin
Anjali is a senior, general biology major at the º¬Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù. She is a pre-dental student and plans to attend dental school after completing her undergraduate studies. Anjali has been working in the Tri3- lab since the beginning of 2022 and is involved with data entry, data verification, and data cleaning. She enjoys dance, music, visiting new places, and reading.
Robert Polworth