Dr. Barrière is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Molloy College. She completed her PhD in Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck College at the University of London. She subsequently received training in Early Childhood Education (in Canterbury, UK), in Neuropsychology at Toulouse University and at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, and in Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University. Her research has been supported by numerous grant-giving organizations, both European, such as the UK ESRC, and American, such as the New York State Department of Education (NYS DOE) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Barrière is also the Director of Policy for Research and Education at the Yeled V’Yalda Early Childhood Center (YVY), one of the largest Head Start programs in New York City.

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Dr. Jon Nissenbaum is an assistant professor in the Department of English at CUNY Brooklyn College. He earned his PhD at MIT, under the supervision of Noam Chomsky and David Pesetsky. Before joining the faculty at Brooklyn College, he held positions at Harvard, McGill, and Syracuse universities. His research has been funded by the NIH/NIDCD as well as the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Fonds de recherche du Québec Société et culture. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in linguistic theory at both introductory and advanced levels.

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Cass Lowry is a PhD candidate in Linguistics at The Graduate Center, CUNY and an Adjunct Instructor at Brooklyn College. Cass’s research focuses on the morphosyntax of Georgian, particularly as spoken by the Georgian-American community in the NYC area. More information about Cass’s work can be found at casslowry.com.

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Dr. Nancy Gauvin is an assistant professor leading the Department of Communication Science and Disorders’s newest Communication and Health Equity Outcomes Research Initiative. As an assistant professor in the tenure stream, Dr. Gauvin’s primary academic responsibilities involve teaching in the speech-language pathology and clinical doctoral programs and the development of a systematic research program consistent with her expertise in vocal health, craniofacial anomalies/cleft lip and palate and resonance, diversity, equity and inclusion in clinical supervision, scholarship, teaching, learning, health equity and research outcomes. As a faculty investigator, she is a member of the University of Pittsburgh’s CSD’s Research Enterprises in Voice and Swallowing (REVS) multi-investigator research initiative and serves as director of CSD’s newest health equity and outcomes research core.

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Dr. Lafontant is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at CUNY Medgar Evers College, where she teaches courses in Child Development and Early Childhood/Special Education. She holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Yeshiva University, and a dual Master’s degree in Bilingual Special Education from Bank Street College of Education. Dr. Lafontant has enjoyed a multifaceted career which has encompassed teaching, student assessment, early intervention, staff development, and program evaluation. Her research activities have been primarily focused on program evaluation, and she is also very interested in the socio-emotional aspects of learning.