Alma Rodriguez graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Agriculture and Environmental Education.

Anmolpreet Kang is a recent UC Davis graduate, earning her Bachelor of Art degree in Psychology and Linguistics with a minor in Education. Anmolpreet plans to pursue a teaching credential and work with education policy to make classrooms more inclusive of neurodivergent students.

Azeema Yahya is currently a High School English Teacher in the Bay Area, CA. After graduating from UC Davis and getting her BA in English and Minor in Education, she earned a Single Subject Teaching Credential and MA in Education. She stated that her time with the lab helped her immensely with teaching and creating a more inclusive learning environment for all students.

Cameron Alexander is currently a Ph.D. student in the School Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. He received a BS in Human Development and minored in Psychology and Education at UC Davis. Prior to his commitments as a research coordinator, Cameron worked in the CARE lab as an undergraduate research assistant for 2 years. He is interested in understanding and evaluating emotion regulation in learners with varying neurodevelopmental disabilities. 

Christine Joyce Soliva is a graduate research assistant pursuing an M.Ed. in General Education with a credential in Single Subject: English at the University of California, Riverside. She received a B.A. in English with minors in Women’s Studies and Education at UC Davis. She plans on teaching English at the High School level.  

Carina Webster graduated from UC Davis with a BA in Psychology. She has been working as an Early Interventionist for children with exceptionalities at an inclusive child developmental center in San Francisco, CA since 2018. She provides individualized intervention for children ages 0-3 and home-based coaching for their families as well as inclusion support and reflective training for teachers. As a clinician, Carina is certified in the Developmental, Individual Differences, Relationships-based model (“DIR Floortime”) and uses strategies from the Early Start Denver Model with support from an ESDM certified trainer. Outside of her work in early intervention, Carina is participating in a post-baccalaureate program pursuing a MA in Speech-Language Pathology. Carina will soon be launching her own community dedicated to embracing neurodiversity and reframing inclusion in collaboration with families and educators. Carina stated, “I hold so much gratitude for my experience as the lab’s first undergraduate employee! Dr. Sparapani introduced me to the concept of neurodiversity, encouraged me to learn more about developmental approaches for supporting individuals with autism, and shared a vision that both resonated with and inspired me to integrate these foundational ideas into a career path.”

Cecilia Williams graduated from UC Davis in 2018 with a BA in Psychology and Minors in Education and Human Development. Following graduation, she started to work as a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT). Currently, Cecilia lives in CO, where she works as a Lead RBT at Autism West Behavior Partners. She is also pursuing a MA in Special Education - Applied Behavior Analysis at Arizona State University. Cecilia intends to apply to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in 2022.

Chloe Amaryllis Rankin is an alumna of UC Davis and a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in education at San Francisco State University with a concentration in equity and social justice. She participated in the CARE Lab in 2019 after inspiring some of the School of Education faculty with her Aspire with Autism presentation to the campus community. One of her career aspirations is to be a reform leader doing educational advocacy, innovative work, and trailblazing new enlightenments in the education field. Her educational trajectory was shaped by her ability to defy the odds to achieve a pathway of fulfillment and surpass what others believed was her limit with a mild form of autism. Living with ASD, Chloe took on a role in motivational speaking to share her experiences about finding her potential to succeed, getting ahead of ability stigma, and augmenting her abilities to take on the challenges of new opportunities. She states, “Autism is not a hindrance in my life but rather something to inspire with”. 

Cosmos Liu was an international undergraduate student majoring in Cognitive Science and Anthropology. In the lab, they worked on video transcription and videotaping. They chose these fields of study to investigate educational and mental health issues from a global and culture-sensitive perspective. In their free time, they love gardening and making illustrations.

Eileen Nayeli De Jesus recently graduated with her Bachelor of Art degree in Psychology and double minoring in Education and Chicano Studies. Eileen plans to attend graduate school to receive a Master’s degree in School Psychology and become a licensed school psychologist. 

Elia Keating is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, along with minors in Education and Technology Management. They were part of the literacy assessment team.

Jacquelyn Rodriguez was in the UC Davis Human Development Department.

Jennie Bullen, Ph.D. is a recipient of the NIH Autism Researcher Training Program fellowship under the guidance of Drs. Nicole Sparapani and Peter Mundy. Her research interests are to understand the development of mathematical and numerical cognition in children on the autism spectrum and individuals with dyscalculia. Prior to her postdoc position, Dr. Bullen received her Ph.D. in Human Development from the University of California, Davis.   

Jennifer Yang graduated from the UC Davis with a BS in Human Development and a Minor in Psychology. She is currently working as a visitation coach specialist as well as a youth counselor within the community. She will be starting her graduate work at Boston University in School of Social Work in the fall 2021. 

Jocelyn Elias graduated from UC Davis June 2020 with a BA in Psychology. Since then, she has been working as a Registered Behavior Technician, providing Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) services to children with autism and their families. Jocelyn is currently working on a community engagement project with their current company at EasterSeals NorCal. Jocelyn also is a graduate student in a Master’s program in Counseling Psychology.

Josh Traser graduated with his BA in Cognitive Science and Linguistics. He is currently working as a lab technician in a dental lab and is interested in attending graduate school in Speech-Language Pathology in the future. In addition, Josh is also pursuing his life’s work as a writer during his free time.

Kanwardeep Singh graduated from UC Davis with a BA in History and Minor in Education. She is currently in her second-year of teaching computer science/electives following her Master’s program. She is also on the Ethnic Studies Task Force and is leaning how to implement more inclusive education practices. Kanwar will be starting a doctoral program in fall 2021 to become an effective leader for her students. She is also hoping to gain the knowledge and skills needed to be an advocate for educational equity. Kanwar stated that she is grateful for the lab and the work Dr. Sparapani is doing to help educators. 

Kevin Dang is a recent UC Davis graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a minor in Psychology. Kevin plans to attend medical school with an emphasis in Family Medicine. 

Kirsten Daugherty was an undergraduate researcher in the UC Davis CARE Lab from March 2019 to September 2020. She coded classroom videos of student productivity. She continues to volunteer. Kirsten graduated in the spring of 2020 with a BA in Psychology and a Minor in Education. After UC Davis, she began graduate school at Brandman University, pursuing a MA in Teaching (MAT), with Preliminary Education Specialist and Mild/Moderate Credential with the English Learner and Autism Authorizations. After she receives her MA and special education credential, Kirsten aspires to become an elementary school special education teacher. In addition to graduate school, Kirsten is currently employed with the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District. She is a paraeducator in the RSP (Resource Specialist Program) at Anna Kyle Elementary School. She looks forward to gaining more experience as a paraeducator as she feels it will prepare her to be a great special education teacher in the future! 

Laurel Towers is a doctoral candidate in the UC Davis School of Education. She is originally from the United Kingdom and has extensive experience supporting students with autism as a teacher, inclusion specialist, and school administrator. Laurel’s research interests include classroom interactions and practices between teachers, para-professionals, and students on the autism spectrum. She is especially interested in how educators’ instructional strategies can facilitate students’ emotion regulation during classroom learning.

Maggie Wu graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with a BA in Psychology and Minor in Education. She is currently enrolled in the UC Davis Teacher Education Program, working on her Single Subject Teaching Credential. 

Mi-Ni Liu graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Communication in 2018. 

Olivia Kelly graduated from UC Davis with a BS in Human Development and Minor in Psychology.

Regine Lasam graduated from UC Davis with a BS in Human Development. She is currently attending Alliant International University School of Nursing. 

Sana Karimi graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with a BA Sociology and Minor in Psychology. She is currently working as a research assistant at the Center for Mindfulness and Human Potential at UC Santa Barbara and a case manager at PATH, a homeless shelter.

Simran Raina graduated at the end of this quarter (March 2024) with a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and a B.A. in Psychology. She worked on coding teacher interviews to gain their perspective on the education of neurodivergent learners.

Talia Morones helped with the video observation and assessment teams. She graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor’s in Linguistics. She now plans to pursue graduate school to eventually become a speech-language pathologist. 

Yelizaveta Belomyttseva (Liza) graduated from UC Davis in 2019 with a BS in Biological Sciences. She is currently in graduate school. 

Zaina Khoury graduated from UC Davis with a BS in Human Development and Minor in Human Rights. She is currently at Columbia University in New York. working on a MA in Speech-Language Pathology.