Brian Baird, PhD
4Pir2 Communication
The Honorable Brian Baird, PhD, served six terms, 12 years, in the United States House of Representatives, representing Washington State’s 3rd Congressional District. In Congress, Baird focused on science and technology, sales tax deductibility, energy, education, mental health, oceans, science diplomacy, fiscal discipline and congressional integrity. Baird holds a PhD in clinical psychology, has chaired the Washington State Student Achievement Council and served as president of Antioch University Seattle. His clinical experience spans more than two decades and encompasses a wide variety of settings and patient groups. Baird presently serves on a number of advisory boards, including the National Research Council Division of Behavioral Social Sciences and Education. Baird is founder and president of 4Pir2 Communication, a consulting firm focusing on public policy and science communication. He is married to Dr. Rachel Nugent and they have twin ten-year old sons.
Stephen L. Chew, PhD
Samford University
Chew has been a professor and chair of psychology at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., since 1993. Trained as a cognitive psychologist, one of his primary research areas is the cognitive basis of effective teaching. Chew was selected as a Carnegie Scholar in 1998 as part of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL). His research interests include the use of examples in teaching, the impact of cognitive load on learning, and the tenacious misconceptions that students bring with them into the classroom. He is the creator of a groundbreaking series of YouTube videos for students on how to study effectively in collegeopens in new window which are in wide use and have been viewed over a million times. More recently, he created a video series for teachersopens in new window on the cognitive principles of effective teaching.
Timothy W. Curby, PhD
George Mason University
Curby is an associate professor and director of the applied developmental psychology program at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Curby is on the APA Council of Representatives for Div. 15 (Educational Psychology) and has been representing Div. 7 (Developmental Psychology) on the APA Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education. Curby’s work focuses on examining the role of teacher–student interactions in promoting children's development, particularly in regards to children's social-emotional development. His work consistently applies advanced statistical models to school-based research. His PhD in educational psychology is from the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education. Prior to that, Curby was a high school science teacher having earned an MA in teaching and a BS in biology from the University of Michigan.
Jim Diaz-Granados, PhD
American Psychological Association
Diaz-Granados is executive director for education at the American Psychological Association. He joined APA in Sept. 2014, after serving as chair and professor of psychology, neuroscience and biomedical studies in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University. He received his PhD in psychology (behavioral neuroscience concentration) from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to Baylor, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina. His research focused on the developmental, behavioral and neurochemical aspects of alcohol abuse and addiction. He worked with animal models of fetal alcohol syndrome, adolescent alcohol abuse, and most recently in aging. His work has been funded by the NIH and the Department of Defense. He is past president of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology and a member of the Commission on Accreditation where he served as chair of the Research Work Group and Panel Review co-chair.
Nabil Hassan El-Ghoroury, PhD
American Psychological Association of Graduate Students
El-Ghoroury is currently the associate executive director of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS). In this role, he represents over 27,000 graduate and undergraduate student affiliates of APA. APAGS provides programming, advocacy and leadership for a variety of graduate student issues. The current strategic goals for APAGS are to reduce the internship crisis, promote training opportunities for emerging scientists, and create a culture of leadership within APA.
Prior to coming to APA, El-Ghoroury was a psychologist in the Department of Pediatrics at Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a senior instructor in the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine (Department of Pediatrics) and faculty in the Center for Reducing Health Disparities. He conducted outpatient psychotherapy to children, adolescents and their families and consulted to a bilingual pediatric primary care clinic. El-Ghoroury also precepted pediatric residents as the head of the developmental and behavioral pediatrics rotation. His clinical interests include autism spectrum disorders, disruptive behavior, and working with Latino children and families. El-Ghoroury received his PhD in clinical psychology from the State University of New York at Binghamton and his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Roseanne L. Flores, PhD
Hunter College
Flores is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Hunter College. She was a National Head Start fellow in the Office of Head Start in 2009-10 and also worked at the Institute of Education Science in the National Center for Education Research creating a template for the dissemination of assessment instruments developed from research in the field. During the summer of 2009, Flores was a visiting scholar at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., where she worked in the areas of assessment, research and policy. More recently she served as a reviewer for the Race to the Top — Early Learning Challenge grant. Flores has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, statistics, testing and measurement, and linguistic, cognitive and social development of children across various ages and cultural groups. Some of her current research examines the relationship between environmental risk factors, such as community violence, SES, obesity and food insecurity, on the health and educational outcomes of minority children.
Catherine L. Grus, PhD
American Psychological Association
Grus is the deputy executive director for education at the American Psychological Association and has been on the staff of the APA since 2005. Grus received her PhD in clinical psychology from Nova University in 1993. She completed her doctoral internship at the University of Miami, School of Medicine and a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At APA, she works to advance policies and practices that promote high quality education and training at the doctoral, postdoctoral and post-licensure levels. Areas of focus for Grus include the development of models and tools for competency assessment in professional psychology, supervision, and primary care psychology practice.
Susan Hattan
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities
Hattan joined the NAICU staff in July 2003. She is responsible for policy development and oversight on accountability matters, including consumer information and reporting requirements, accreditation, student privacy, and institutional eligibility and certification. Most recently, before joining NAICU in a full-time capacity, Hattan served as a consultant to the association in preparation for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. She had retired from the federal government in 2001 after a 27-year career in the U.S. Senate, where she served on the staff of Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., for 18 years. Hattan was staff director of the Labor and Human Resources Committee during Kassebaum's tenure as chair, and when Kassebaum retired in 1997, Hattan became deputy staff director for Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt. She also worked for Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas from 1973 to 1977. Hattan is a graduate of Washburn University (Topeka, Kan.), and holds a master's degree from American University in Washington, D.C.
Elana Newman, PhD
University of Tulsa
Newman is the McFarlin Professor of Psychology at the University of Tulsa, research director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, co-director of the University of Tulsa Institute of Trauma, Adversity and Injustice, and a former president of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies. She is also a past director of clinical training. Newman specializes in understanding and intervening to prevent or treat trauma-related conditions and training students and professionals how to work effectively with people suffering from trauma-related problems. She has authored more than 100 articles, books and publications examining topics such as trauma and substance abuse, disaster mental health, trauma-related treatment and assessment, teaching about trauma, trauma-related research ethics, and substance use and its developmental impact. She is committed to educating the public and professionals about the meaning, aftermath and treatment of psychological trauma and active in local efforts to create trauma-informed workforces.
Jennifer Smulson
American Psychological Association
Smulson is a senior legislative and federal affairs officer for APA's Education Government Relations Office. Prior to joining APA, Smulson worked as professional staff for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. She also served as professional staff for the Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities.
Karen Studwell, JD
American Psychological Association
Studwell is the associate executive director of APA's Education Government Relations Office. Prior to joining the Education Directorate, she worked for 12 years in the APA Science Directorate as a senior legislative and federal affairs officer. She leads APA’s federal advocacy agenda for graduate psychology education and training, focusing primarily on expanding federal support for programs within the Health Resources and Services Administration. An experienced appropriations lobbyist, she came to APA after representing voluntary health agencies and medical societies on a variety of health policy goals including improving access to clinical trials, and expanding stem cell research and increasing federal investments in health research. She has been recognized for her work by both APA, receiving an APA employee service award in 2004, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, which honored her with the distinguished service on behalf of social-personality psychology award.
Rena F. Subotnik, PhD
American Psychological Association
Subotnik is the director for the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education (CPSE) for the Education Directorate. The mission of CPSE is to generate public awareness, advocacy, clinical applications, and cutting-edge research to enhance educational and developmental opportunities for students at all levels of schooling, with a special focus on: 1) pre-K to 12 teacher preparation programs, teaching skills and professional development; 2) assisting educators and other school personnel in grounding both teaching and learning in current psychological science; 3) identifying attributes for success in school; and 4) advocating for and building a presence of psychology in the national and international education agenda, particularly in the preparation of teachers. A primary responsibility of the position is to staff the Coalition of Psychology in Schools and Education. The coalition represents over 20 different groups of psychologists whose interests are in addressing academic and mental health needs of students in schools, and to improve teacher preparation.
Dan Willingham, PhD
University of Virginia
Willingham is a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1992. Until about 2000, his research focused solely on the brain basis of learning and memory. Today, all of his research concerns the application of cognitive psychology to K-16 education. He writes the “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” column for American Educator magazine, and is the author of “Why Don’t Students like School?, “When Can You Trust the Experts” and “Raising Kids Who Read.”