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Dr. Ronald K. Hambleton holds the title of Distinguished University Professor and is Chairperson of the Research and Evaluation Methods Program and Executive Director of the Center for Educational Assessment at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He earned a B.A. in 1966 from the University of Waterloo in Canada with majors in mathematics and psychology, and an M.A. in 1967 and Ph.D. in 1969 from the University of Toronto with specialties in psychometric methods and statistics. Professor Hambleton teaches graduate-level courses in educational and psychological testing, item response theory and applications, classical test theory models and methods, and offers seminar courses on applied measurement topics. He is co-author of several textbooks including Fundamentals of Item Response Theory, and Item Response Theory: Principles and Applications (with H. Swaminathan and H. Jane Rogers), and co-editor of several books including International Perspectives on Academic Assessment (with Thomas Oakland), Handbook of Modern Item Response Theory (with Wim van der Linden), Computer-Based Testing and the Internet (with David Bartram) and Adaptation of Educational and Psychological Tests for Cross-Cultural Assessment (with Peter Merenda and Charles Spielberger). His research interests are in the areas of item response model applications to educational achievement and credentialing exams, standard-setting, test adaptation methodology, score reporting, and computer-based testing. He has received several honors and awards for his more than 35 years of measurement research including honorary doctorates from Umea University in Sweden and University of Oviedo in Spain, the 1994 National Council on Measurement in Education Career Award, 2003 Association of Test Publisher National Award for Contributions to Computer-Based Testing, and the 2005 E. F. Lindquist Award for Contributions to Assessment. |
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Dr. Stephen G. West (Ph.D, 1973, University of Texas at Austin) is currently Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University (ASU). He is the current editor of Psychological Methods and the past editor of Journal of Personality. During his peripatetic career he has held regular or visiting faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Florida State University, University of Texas, Austin, Duke University, University of Heidelberg (Germany), and UCLA. He has received the ASU Psychology Department’s graduate faculty member of year award as well as the ASU Graduate School’s outstanding graduate mentor award. His methodological work is in experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, multiple regression, structural equation modeling, and longitudinal data analysis. His substantive research is in the areas of personality and prevention-related issues in health, mental health, and educational contexts. He is a past winner of the Henry Murray award for lifetime contributions to the study of lives from Division 8 (personality and social psychology). He is co-author of 12 books and edited volumes including Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions (1991) and Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences (2003). He teaches the undergraduate introductory statistics course and graduate courses in multiple regression, advanced regression and statistical graphics, structural equation modeling, and experimental and quasi-experimental designs. He is most proud of the many graduate students with whom he has worked who have gone on to teach graduate courses in research methods and statistics at major universities. |
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Dr. Yanyan Sheng (Ph.D. 2005, University of Missouri-Columbia) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology & Special Education at the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. She is originally from China where she received a bachelors degree in English from Anhui University in 1997. She entered the Educational Psychology program at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2000 where she earned a masters and doctoral degree in Educational Measurement and Statistics. In 2004 Dr. Sheng earned a second masters degree from the Statistics Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her advanced studies in statistics led to her dissertation project titled /Bayesian Analysis of Hierarchical IRT Models: Comparing and Combining the Unidimensional and Multi-Unidimensional IRT Models/ which she completed in 2005. Dr. Sheng joined the faculty in Measurement and Statistics at SIUC in 2005. Her current program of research is focused on psychometrics, IRT and Bayesian hierarchical models, multivariate assessment, and adaptive testing. |