Director of the Reading, Engagement and Diversity (READ) Lab
Ana Taboada Barber serves as Associate Dean of Research, Innovation and Partnerships, and as Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education. Dr. Taboada Barber studies reading comprehension from a cognitive and motivational perspective. Her work centers on studying the influence of specific motivational variables (e.g., autonomy support, self-efficacy) and cognitive variables (e.g., executive function skills; inference making) on the literacy and language development of elementary and middle school students. She is interested in studying reading comprehension within classroom instructional contexts as well as an individual difference variable. As a former English as a Second Language teacher in full language immersion settings, Ana’s work in reading comprehension development is principally concentrated within the population of English Learners (ELs) or emergent bilinguals within the United States. More recently she has extended her focus to include Spanish-speaking students in South American countries (e.g., Chile and Argentina) and Francophone countries. In the last ten years Ana has turned her attention to the possible roles that executive function skills (i.e., working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility as well as Executive Control) as one component of a larger system of self-regulation, play in the reading comprehension of Emergent Bilinguals in English-only and dual language immersion settings.
Co-Principal Investigator
Kelly B. Cartwright is the Spangler Distinguished Professor of Early Child Literacy Department of Reading and Elementary Education at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Kelly’s research explores the development of skilled reading comprehension and the neurocognitive, linguistic, and affective factors that underlie reading comprehension processes and difficulties from preschool through adulthood. Kelly has a particular interest in the role of executive function processes (mental skills that support goal-directed activities), such as cognitive flexibility, in the development of skilled reading comprehension, and she wrote the first comprehensive text on this topic (Executive Skills and Reading Comprehension, Guilford, 2015). Kelly’s has developed reading-specific executive function assessments and interventions, and her graphophonological-semantic cognitive flexibility assessment has been adapted for use in several languages. More recently, she has turned her attention to the roles of executive function processes in particular domains of reading comprehension, such as health literacy and mathematics word problem comprehension; contributions of executive functions to other individual difference variables that support reading comprehension, such as strategic processing; and to reading comprehension development in Spanish-speaking English learners through her collaboration with the READ Lab.
Sonia Urbano Aguilar
READ Lab Coordinator
Sonia Urbano Aguilar is an undergraduate B.S. psychology major at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, in Argentina she pursued a formation in Psychopedagogy and gained much experience working with children both as a psychopedagogist apprentice and as a ballet teacher. She moved to the United States in 2021 as part of an exchange program, and in 2023 she started attending UMBC. After graduating she wishes to pursue a doctorate in Educational Psychology. She enjoys classical literature, ballet, and traveling. This is her first experience working in research and she is eager to participate in a project that is so close to both her personal and professional interests.
Marieh Arnett
Data Manager
Marieh Arnett has an M.S. in Quantitative Methodology from the University of Maryland, College Park. She holds an M.P.S in Clinical Psychological Science, a B.S in Psychology with a minor in Spanish, and a B.S in Statistics, all from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has experience with data analysis relating to multiple fields of study and her specific interests deal with causal inference and exploring the relationships and connections between variables. She is super excited to work on a project that has such a significant impact on today’s youth.
Alexandra Lopez Rodriguez
Undergrad Research Assistant
Alexandra Lopez Rodriguez is an undergraduate Psychology major at the University of Maryland. She served as a bilingual assessor for the first time in the fall of 2022 and has since assisted with behind the scenes tasks, including data organization. As an aspiring mental health professional, she cherishes the well-being and accomplishments of others (especially today’s youth and children). She enjoys baking, hanging out with her sister, and listening to rock music. She is very grateful for all she has learned thus far and is excited to foster bilingualism with everyone.
Vanessa Villatoro
Research Assistant
Vanessa Villatoro recently graduated from Montgomery College and has an associates degree in Secondary Education. Vanessa plans on continuing their education and enrolling at the University of Maryland for a bachelors degree. Vanessa joined Project CLIMB in the fall of 2022 as a bilingual assessor. Vanessa continued to work by helping with the behind the scenes along side the data team. Vanessa has also worked closely with the project manager on the forefront of the project. As a future educator, Vanessa has learned so much since joining the team and is excited for the more opportunities it brings.
Xiaoli Gong
Xiaoli Gong is a doctoral student in Applied Linguistics and Language Education. She has presented and co-presented at American Educational Research Association (AERA), Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), American Psychological Association (APA), STARTALK Conference, and the National Conference on Chinese immersion programs. Having taught Mandarin-English immersion programs, Mandarin as a world language, and college-level Mandarin, Xiaoli seeks to integrate research-based language teaching practices into language classrooms. Xiaoli is particularly passionate about investigating immersion program students’ language and literacy development. This passion has driven Xiaoli to work with the CLIMB project since 2021.
