Author Archives: nddlab

Down Syndrome Grants Funded by National Institutes of Health

Dr. Jane Roberts was recently awarded a supplemental grant to expand the NDD Lab’s current research efforts to include Down syndrome. These grant will build upon the lab’s longitudinal studies on the emergence and stability of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anxiety in fragile X syndrome. The grant will allow us to learn more the early indicators of ASD in infants with Down syndrome and the diagnosis of ASD and anxiety in preschoolers with Down syndrome. We are so excited to be actively recruiting infants and preschoolers with Down syndrome!

Click here to learn more about our research!

Team Member Updates!

We rang in the new year by welcoming three new research specialists to our assessment team! Kayla Jarvis and Nichole Mayberry joined the lab in January as full-time research specialists. Libby Tillman began volunteering in the lab as an undergraduate assistant in 2018, and is transitioning to her new role as a part-time research specialist while she completes her bachelors degree here at the University of South Carolina.

We also want to take a moment to congratulate Dr. Abby Hogan on her promotion to Associate Director of the NDD Lab! Dr. Hogan joined the lab in 2015 as a postdoctoral fellow. In addition to her new role, Dr. Hogan is a Research Assistant Professor in the USC Department of Psychology.

Many of our families know Carly Moser, who worked in the NDD Lab as a Research Assistant from 2016-2018. In 2019, Carly embarked upon her doctoral training in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the USC Arnold School of Public Health under the direction of one of our collaborators and former postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Jessica Klusek.

Two of our PhD students recently moved on to internships! Kelly Caravella White is currently completing an internship at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Sara Matherly is currently completing an internship at Blythewood High School and North Springs Elementary School, as well as with Developmental Pediatrics at USC Medical School and Palmetto Richland Hospital here in Columbia, SC.

Carla Wall Receives SPARC Grant from USC

Carla Wall, a doctoral student in the NDD Lab, was recently awarded a grant from the USC Office of the Vice President for Research. The Support to Promote Advancement of Research and Creativity (SPARC) Graduate Research Grant is a merit-based award designed to ignite research and creative excellence across all disciplines at the University of South Carolina. Carla’s research will focus on, “Decoding the Heterogeneity of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Biobehavioral Study of Social Attention Across Intellectual Ability, Sex, and Syndrome.”

Congratulations, Carla!

Dr. Jane Roberts Appointed Interim Chair of USC Department of Psychology

In Fall 2018, Dr. Jane Roberts was appointed Interim Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Roberts came to USC in 2008 as an Associate Professor in the School Psychology program. In 2013, she became Program Director of the School Psychology program and began teaching in the Clinical-Community program as well.

Congratulations, Dr. Roberts!

Undergraduate Hannah Thomas highlighted by UofSC Today!

Hannah Thomas didn’t think she was interested in a career working with children. Now, after spending three years conducting research in two College of Arts and Sciences’ psychology department labs, the May graduate can’t imagine doing anything else but helping unravel neurological and learning issues that many children face.