2026 Speakers

Juliet Hart Barnett, PhD
Professor of Special Education, Division of Educator Preparation, Arizona State University

Juliet Hart Barnett is a nationally recognized scholar and expert in special education and autism with 30 years of experience spanning teaching, research, and educator preparation. She earned her doctorate from the University of Miami in 2003 and has authored more than 100 publications, presented to more than 200 national and international audiences, and secured nearly $5 million in research and program funding. Her scholarship includes extensive research on autism, family perspectives and supports, teacher preparation, and translating evidence into effective practice. A former teacher of students with emotional disorders, she brings both classroom experience and research expertise to her work supporting educators and families. She is also the co-author of Friendship 101: Helping Students Build Social Competence. Her contributions to the field have been recognized with numerous honors, including the 2020 Outstanding Researcher Award from the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities and the 2026 Distinguished Researcher Award from the American Educational Research Association’s Special and Inclusive Education Research SIG.

Jaime Branaman, MA, CCC-SLP, RBT
Speech Language Pathologist, PhD Student & RBT, University of New Mexico

Jaime Branaman is a doctoral student in communication sciences and disorders at the University of New Mexico under the mentorship of Dr. Cindy Gevarter. They practiced as a speech-language pathologist for seven years in multiple specialized settings (e.g., non-public schools, ABA early intervention center) prior to returning to graduate school. In addition to enrollment in the doctoral program, Jaime has completed their post-graduate certificate in applied behavior analysis and continues to work on their requirements towards certification in behavior analysis. Their clinical experiences motivated them to focus their research on AAC for autistic learners, interprofessional collaboration, and clinical education through an implementation science lens.

Sarah Connolly, PhD, BCBA-D, ABPP
Associate Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Munroe-Meyer Institute

Dr. Sarah Connolly is a board-certified clinical child and adolescent psychologist (ABPP) and Board Certified Behavior Analyst–Doctoral (BCBA-D). She is an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe-Meyer Institute, where she serves as Director of the BRIDGE Clinic, an innovative group-based applied behavior analysis (ABA) program for autistic children. She also serves as Co-Director of the iCASD Fellowship Program and Coordinator of Integrated Applied Behavior Analysis Training track within UNMC’s APA-accredited psychology internship. Her clinical, teaching, and research interests focus on advancing evidence-based interventions for autistic individuals, with particular emphasis on verbal behavior, language development, social communication, and the translation of research into meaningful clinical practice. Her work has examined thematic multiple tact training, emergent language development, group-based ABA service delivery, and technology-assisted interventions designed to improve access to high-quality autism services. As an educator and mentor, she has taught graduate-level behavior analysis and psychology courses for more than a decade and has trained dozens of graduate students, interns, fellows, and early-career clinicians across psychology and behavior analysis. She is passionate about preparing the next generation of clinicians through competency-based supervision, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovative training models. She regularly presents at regional and national conferences on autism, applied behavior analysis, verbal behavior, clinical supervision, and interdisciplinary service delivery.

Peter Crino, MD, PhD
Professor & Chair, University of Maryland

Dr. Peter Crino is the Dr. Richard and Kathryn Taylor Endowed Professor and Chair of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He received his B.A. from Binghamton University, M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine and Ph.D. in neuroscience from Boston University. He completed medical internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and neurology residency and clinical epilepsy fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Crino was a Howard Hughes Physician Post-Doctoral Fellow (1994-1997) and received the Esther A. and the Joseph Klingenstein Research Award in Neuroscience (1999). He served as the Director of the Penn Comprehensive Epilepsy and the Temple University Epilepsy Centers. He currently directs the Clinical Center for Adults with Neuro-Developmental Disabilities (CCAND) and the nationally recognized Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) Center of Excellence at University of Maryland. He received a Lifetime Service Award from the TSC Alliance and the Inaugural Fritz Dreifuss Award for Translational Research in Epilepsy from the American Epilepsy Society (2016). He was President of the Philadelphia Neurological Society (2015-2016). He was a member of the Developmental Brain Disorders Study Section at NINDS. In 2021, he received a Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award. He served as Chair, Board of Directors, of the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance (2020-2022). Dr. Crino has maintained a continuously NIH-funded translational research program studying developmental brain malformations linked to epilepsy, autism, and intellectual disabilities for the past 29 years. Dr. Crino has published over 200 papers, reviews, and book chapters.

Cindy Gevarter, PhD, BCBA-D
Associate Professor, University of New Mexico

Dr. Cindy Gevarter is an associate professor in the University of New Mexico’s Speech and Hearing Sciences Department. She received her PhD in early childhood special education from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research and teaching interests center around neurodiversity-affirming approaches to serving autistic children and their families, as well as supporting the clinic education of SLP graduate students who will work with neurodiverse populations and/or are neurodiverse themselves. Her areas of expertise and interest include naturalistic developmental behavioral communication interventions, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), family centered and culturally relevant early intervention, graduate clinician instruction, cascading coaching models, and inter-professional collaboration. She is the project director of the OSEP funded Project SCENES and Project MESA graduate training grant programs.

Tom Holub, PhD
Professor, Edgewood College

Dr. Tom Holub has authored articles on varying aspects of special education. He created a National Award winning curriculum relating to promoting self-determination. He has been a professor in the field and a consultant across the country. He designed and implemented a transition curriculum for three states and is actively expanding his breadth of study to work as a visiting scholar at the US Holocaust Museum and Memorial. There he plans to study disability and the Holocaust.

Destiny Huff, PhD, LPC
Mental Health Therapist & Non-Attorney Special Education Advocate, Destiny Huff Consulting, LLC

Dr. Destiny Huff is a licensed professional counselor, non-attorney special education advocate, author, mother, wife, and speaker whose work centers around neuroaffirming, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed support for neurodivergent learners and families. Drawing from more than 15 years of experience across mental health, education, and advocacy settings, she helps professionals and families move beyond compliance-based approaches toward practices that honor communication, regulation, autonomy, identity, and individual support needs.

Meral Koldas, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA
Assistant Professor, University of Missouri St. Louis

Dr. Meral Koldas is a tenure-track Assistant Professor, Board Certified Behavior Analyst–Doctoral (BCBA-D) and Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA) in Missouri, researcher, and educator with international experience in autism intervention, verbal behavior, and technology-supported training. She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis from Queen’s University Belfast, an M.Sc. in Applied Behavior Analysis from Bangor University. Prior to joining the University of Missouri–St. Louis, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Munroe-Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr.Koldas is an active member of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), serving on the Practice Board and as Dissemination Coordinator for the Verbal Behavior Special Interest Group. She also contributes to the field through editorial service for Behavior Analysis in Practice, The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and the British Educational Research Journal. Her clinical and research work spans educational, clinical, and community settings across multiple countries, supporting autistic individuals and their families through both in-person and remote service delivery models. Dr. Koldas’s research focuses on verbal behavior, language development, autism intervention, communication-based skill acquisition, and technology-assisted training. Her broader scholarly interests include expanding access to evidence-based interventions for underserved populations, developing scalable training systems, and advancing the global dissemination of applied behavior analysis through international collaboration, education ,and research.

Micah Mazurek, PhD
Professor, University of Virginia

Dr. Micah Mazurek is the Novartis U.S. Foundation Professor of Education and Chair of the Department of Human Services at the University of Virginia, Director of UVA’s Supporting Transformative Autism Research (STAR) initiative, and Director of the Blue Ridge Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (Blue Ridge LEND) program. She is the Immediate Past President of Division 33 (IDD/Autism) of the American Psychological Association (APA). She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Yale University and her master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience and expertise in autism and other developmental disabilities. She is also active in efforts to enhance quality of care through community partnership, training, and development of best-practice autism guidelines and toolkits. Dr. Mazurek has an active program of research funded by NIH, PCORI, HRSA, DoD, and other agencies focused on promoting positive and meaningful outcomes for autistic children, adults, and their families. Her work has resulted in over 150 publications, with current projects focused on developing autism assessment tools, addressing co-occurring health and mental health conditions, and improving access to care for autistic children, adults, and their families.

Jonathan T. Megerian, MD, PhD, FAAP
Clinical Director at Thompson Autism & Neurodevelopmental Center; Neurodevelopmental Medicine Division Chief at CHOC/Rady Children’s Health

Dr. J. Thomas Megerian is a board-certified pediatrician and child neurologist specializing in Autism Spectrum and other neurodevelopmental disorders. He has extensive clinical experience in the diagnosis and management of Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD, tic disorders and Tourette’s Syndrome, and co-occurring medical and behavioral conditions associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Megerian has a strong track record in clinical research, including the design and execution of clinical trials for neurological and neurodevelopmental disorders. He has authored and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal publications on topics including autism, neurodevelopmental comorbidities, and related therapeutics, and serves as a peer reviewer for several leading journals in the field. He is currently an attending neurologist and Associate Clinical Professor (volunteer faculty) at CHOC Children’s and the University of California, Irvine, respectively. As Chief of the Neurodevelopmental Division and Clinical Director of the Thompson Autism & Neurodevelopmental Center, Dr. Megerian leads multidisciplinary care and an active clinical research program focused on improving outcomes for children and young adults with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Jessica Nico, M.A., CCC-SLP, TSSLD, ASD-CS
PhD Candidate and Speech Language Pathologist, University of New Mexico

Jessica Nico is an All But Dissertation (ABD) Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of New Mexico, Grant Manager for Project MESA, and a licensed speech-language pathologist in New Mexico and New York. She has nearly a decade of clinical experience providing culturally and linguistically responsive, neurodiversity-affirming services to autistic children and their families. As a Hispanic and neurodivergent clinician-researcher, Jessica is committed to advancing equitable, family-centered autism services through research, clinical training, and community partnerships. Her research focuses on improving communication assessment and intervention for autistic children who use echolalia, with an emphasis on neurodiversity-affirming practices, implementation science, clinician preparation, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Molly Oshinski, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA
Director of Regional Operations, Already Autism Health

Dr. Molly Oshinski is a doctoral level behavior analyst whose work centers on promoting autonomy and dignity in sensitive areas of daily living, including toileting and intimate hygiene. Dr. Oshinski earned her PhD in Special Education at UT Austin, where she conducted research on teaching menstrual‑care skills to individuals with autism using animated video modeling which later inspired the creation of Pickle System—a free YouTube library of animated daily‑living skill models. Dr. Oshinski also teaches the Master’s ABA program at St. Edward’s University and serves as the Director of Regional Operations at Already Autism Health, overseeing multiple clinics and supporting clinician training and high‑quality service delivery.

Kaelynn Partlow
Autistic Advocate, Author, and RBT, Project Hope Foundation

Kaelynn Partlow is an autistic therapist, public speaker, content creator, and author of Life on the Bridge. She shares autism insights through national speaking events, social media, and her work at Project Hope Foundation to promote real-world autism support and inclusion. Kaelynn also appeared in Season 1 of the Netflix series, Love on the Spectrum.

James Rehg, PhD
Founder Professor & Director of the Health Care Engineering Systems Center, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

Dr. James M. Rehg is a Founder Professor in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at UIUC, where he is the Director of the Health Care Engineering Systems Center. He received his Ph.D. from CMU in 1995 and worked at the Cambridge Research Lab of DEC (and then Compaq) from 1995-2001, where he managed the computer vision research group. He was a professor in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech from 2001-2022. He received an NSF CAREER award in 2001 and a Raytheon Faculty Fellowship from Georgia Tech in 2005. He and his students have received best student paper awards at ICML 2005, BMVC 2010 and 2022, Face and Gesture 2015,ACM IMWUT 2017, and a Method of the Year Award from the journal Nature Methods. Dr. Rehg served as the Program co-Chair for ACCV 2012 and CVPR 2017 and General co-Chair for CVPR 2009. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers and holds 30 issued US patents. His research interests include AI, computer vision, and mobile and computational health.

Jenny Root, PhD, BCBA
Anne and John Daves Endowed Professor of Special Education, Florida State University

Dr. Jenny Root is the Anne and John Daves Endowed Professor of Special Education in Anne’s College at Florida State University and an Affiliate Faculty with the Florida Center for Reading Research. She has 15 years of experience in providing school-based supports to students with autism and intellectual disability as a middle school teacher, researcher, and teacher educator. Dr. Root has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on instruction and assessment and was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President Biden in 2025.

Alison Singer, MBA
President, Autism Science Foundation

Alison Singer is Co-Founder and President of the Autism Science Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding innovative autism research and supporting the needs of people with autism. As the mother of a 28-year-old daughter with profound autism and legal guardian of her older brother with profound autism, she is a natural advocate. Singer served on the United States Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) for 12 years, where she chaired the Safety and Housing Workgroups, and served on the committee responsible for writing an annual strategic plan to guide federal spending for autism research. She currently serves as chair of the executive board of the Seaver Autism Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, as well as on the boards of the Yale Child Study Center, the Marcus Autism Center at Emory University, and the University of North Carolina Autism Research Center. She also serves on the external advisory board of the CDC’s Center for Developmental Disabilities and on the New York State Immunization Advisory Committee. In addition, Singer serves on the board of directors of the International Society for Autism Research(INSAR) and chairs the INSAR Communications Committee. In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics named her an “autism champion.” In 2017 she received the INSAR “Outstanding Research Advocate” award and in 2018 she received the New York Families for Autistic Children Research Advocacy Award. Prior to founding the Autism Science Foundation in 2009, she served as executive vice president of Autism Speaks and as a vice president at NBC. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in Economics and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 2020, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Emory University. From 2018-2021 Alison served on the Board of Education of the Scarsdale Union Free Public School district, including 3 semesters as Vice President of the BOE. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the JCC of Mid Westchester and as President of its Towards Tomorrow Special Education Pre-School.

Emily Sullivan, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA
Faculty Behavior Analyst, University of Rochester Medical Center

Dr. Emily Sullivan is a behavior analysis faculty in the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center and an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Integrated Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Munroe Meyer Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in Behavior Analysis from Western New England University. Dr. Sullivan has clinical expertise in assessing and treating complex, dangerous behavior and has supervised clinical services across various settings, including day programs, residential schools, and inpatient and outpatient hospitals. Her research interests mirror her clinical expertise and include assessing and treating challenging behavior and identifying sustainable strategies to mitigate its risks across settings and among people who experience it. Dr. Sullivan serves on the editorial board and as a guest associate editor for Behavior Analysis in Practice and has disseminated her research via peer-reviewed journal publications and local and national conference presentations.

Gregory Wallace, PhD
Professor, The George Washington University

Dr. Gregory Wallace is a professor at The George Washington University. His research focuses on the influence of brain and behavior as well as individual characteristics and contextual factors on real-world outcomes across the lifespan for autistic people and people with other neurodevelopmental diagnoses. Much of his recent work has focused on better understanding the relatively neglected developmental periods of adulthood and aging among autistic adults. He has published and presented widely on these and related topics.

Shannon Wess, MSW, BCBA, LBA
Manager of Program Development & Training, Easterseals Chicagoland and Greater Rockford

Shannon Wess is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and experienced professional specializing in autism service delivery, special education coaching, and staff development. With a background in behavioral health, direct care, and wraparound case management, she brings a systems-level perspective to improving supports for students with disabilities and special education programs in public school districts across Illinois. Shannon is known for designing and delivering dynamic training programs that inspire lifelong learning. Her passion lies in empowering those who serve others, believing that well-supported professionals are key to improving outcomes for individuals with diverse needs. In addition to training special education teams, Shannon created First Response, a specialized autism awareness training program tailored for first responders and emergency medical personnel. She is a Mizzou alum and now resides in the Chicagoland area with her husband and twin boys.