Sidney W. and Janet R. Bijou Fellowship Recipients
2004: Anna I. Pettursdottir, Western Michigan University
Anna Ingeborg Petursdottir received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Iceland in 1996 and is currently a doctoral student in the Behavior Analysis program at Western Michigan University, under the supervision of Dr. James E. Carr.
In Iceland, Anna completed her B.A. thesis in the area of neuropsychological testing and intended to pursue graduate studies in clinical neuropsychology. In her last semester of college, however, an elective course on single-case experimental designs, taught by Dr. Z. Gabriela Sigurdardottir, served to spark her interest in applied behavior analysis. She abandoned her immediate graduate school plans in favor of working in an ABA home program for a child with autism, as well as assisting in developing and maintaining a network of parents and professionals working in the area. Over the next few years, this experience, combined with frequent contact with Icelandic behavior analysts and opportunities to meet several prominent behavior analysts who visited Iceland, led to her decision to pursue a degree in behavior analysis at WMU.
Anna has continued to be highly interested in the area of autism and the identification of effective procedures for teaching language and other important skills to this population of children. However, her primary research interests have shifted towards more fundamental questions regarding the nature of verbal behavior and its acquisition. She is particularly interested in conducting empirical investigations of the various behavior analytic accounts of language that have been offered in the literature, and their potential applications. At WMU, Anna’s research efforts have mainly focused on childhood verbal behavior acquisition. Her Master’s thesis, supervised by Dr. Jack Michael, was a study on the functional independence of tacts and mands in typically developing preschoolers. In Dr. Carr’s lab, she has collaborated on several other research projects concerned with young children’s verbal and cognitive skills. Anna believes that extensive research on childhood language development is essential to the understanding of this most complex of human behaviors, and hopes to have the opportunity to continue conducting research in this area following the completion of her PhD.
Other 2004 Recipients:
Terry Falcomata, University of Iowa
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