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Meet the Team

Current Research Team

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Dr. Scott Marley
ASU

Principal Investigator

Dr. Scott Marley is an educational psychologist with primary expertise in research design, psychological measurement, and statistical analysis. His secondary area of expertise is in learning strategies from cognitive perspectives. 

Dr. Katie Bernstein
ASU

Principal Investigator

Dr. Katie Bernstein is a former preschool teacher and a current associate professor of Early Childhood & Emergent Bilingual education. She studies children's language and literacy development and the contexts that shape their learning.

Dr. M. Adelaida Restrepo
Univ. of South Florida

Co-Principal Investigator​

Dr. M. Adelaida Restrepo is Professor & Chair of the Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders at USF, where she directs the Bilingual Language and Literacy Lab. She is a bilingual speech-language pathologist who studies assessments and interventions for Spanish-speaking children in the US.

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Dr. Erin
Rotheram-Fuller
ASU

Co-Principal Investigator

Dr. Erin Rotheram-Fuller is a licensed psychologist and board certified behavior analyst. Her work focuses on adapting interventions and environments to support children with unique learning styles, and especially with individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). 

Dr. Lauren van Huisstede
ASU

Co-Principal Investigator

Project Manager

Dr. Lauren van Huisstede is an assistant research professor at ASU. She is a child development researcher with expertise in socioemotional development, play, statistical analysis, and program evaluation. 

Dr. Michael Kelley
ASU

Co-Principal Investigator

Michael Kelley is an early childhood education scholar whose research

and grants focus on understanding  features of high-quality professional development experiences in drama-based instruction for early childhood teachers.

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Theresa Moen
ASU

Researcher

Theresa Moen is a bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist and a doctoral student in the Speech and Hearing Science program at ASU She studies speech/language assessment and intervention for bilingual children.

Sepide Pazhouhi
ASU

Researcher

Sepide Pazhouhi is a PhD student in Learning, Literacies, & Technologies. Her research focuses on equity for racially, culturally, and linguistically marginalized children, as well as early literacy education and children’s and adolescent literature.

Dr. Sultan Kilinc
Syracuse University

Researcher

Dr. Sultan Kilinc is an assistant professor at Syracuse University. Her research agenda includes the use of drama in early childhood education to support all students’ learning and inclusive education practices. 

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Dr. Melissa Pierce
Midwestern University

Researcher

Melissa Pierce is a bilingual speech language pathologist and an assistant professor of Speech-Language Pathology in the College of Health Solutions at Midwestern University. Her research focuses on assessment and intervention with culturally and linguistically diverse preschool students.

Dr. Yuchan Gao
ASU

Researcher

Dr. Yuchan (Blanche) Gao graduated with her PhD in Learning, Literacies, and Technologies from Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College in 2023. She studies technology-enhanced second language learning, in particular using games, as well as multimodal classroom interactions. 

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Annette Schmidt
ASU

Researcher

Annette is a doctoral student in the Learning Literacies and Technologies program at Arizona State University. Her research centers on building student and teacher well being in PreK-12 schools through hands-on, embodied learning in drama-based and nature-based pedagogies. 

Get in Touch
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Past Research Team Members

Thank you to the scholars who shaped past iterations of Literacy@Play research.

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Dr. Kathleen Farrand, Dr. Megan Troxel Deeg, Dr. Sarah L. Alvarado, Dr. Katie Chapman,

Kate Hamm, Steve Capobres, Dr. Alan Brown, Cassandra Larsen

Research Assistants

Thank you to our wonderful team of student research assistants,

who are the day-to-day faces of our project in classrooms.

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Evan Ippolito, Sabrinna Flores, Rebecca Wilson, Kyrie Robbins, Alana Larson, Breanna Rebe, Suzanne Choi, Elizabeth Figueroa Lopez, Jessica Palma Moreno, Gisselle Ramirez, Ana Calixto, Rachel Hicks, Elizabeth Banuelos, Mirta Morales Alvarez, Lucila Castillo, Meredith Porter, Karen Cabrera, Ruowen (Viola) Qi, Krysten McGough, Andrea Ortiz, and Robert Landing  

Childsplay Team

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Jenny Millinger
Childsplay

Project Director

As Childsplay's Associate Artistic Director, Millinger has spent nearly two decades developing and scaling artistic and education programs that nurture the creativity, curiosity, and intelligence of young people.

Kathryn Brantley
Childsplay

Project Director

Kathryn Brantley, Director of Education and School Programs at Childsplay, establishes inclusive learning programs that inspire creativity, promote courageous empathy and foster a life-long love for discovery.

Jennifer Gantwerker
Childsplay

Project Manager

Jen believes in the power of drama-based learning to unlock curiosity, confidence, collaboration, and compassion, and as Childsplay's Education Program Manager, she spends her days working to ensure that young people have access to it.

Teaching Artists

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the teaching artists who helped shape the EYEPlay program. You keep us thinking and learning and laughing every day:


Korbi Adams, Laura Berger, Patricia Black, Raquel Denis, Sarah Dolens-Moon, Megan Flod, Bradford Forehand, Emily Freeman, Jen Gantwerker, Mollie Gittleman, Liliana Gomez, Ximena Gonzalez, Iris Gutierrez, Ashley Hare, Gigi Hernandez, Haley Honeman, Maria Katsadouros, Molly LaJoie, Carlos Lara, Crystal Lizardo, Andrea Lombardi, Kim Manning, Karen Marulanda, Rachel McCabe, Lindsay McEuan, Katie McFadzen, Sean Medlin, Laura Mejia, Jenny Millinger, Kathleen Pennyway, Iva Pereira, Stacie Perez, Elizabeth Polen, Lillie Richardson, Julio Sauceda-Lara, Alli St. John, Brianna Stapleton Welch, Debra K. Stevens, Sarah Sullivan, Thomas Underdal, Carlos Urtubey, Xanthia Walker

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