Meet the Team

Director of 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). Ana has also turned her attention to the possible roles that executive function skills (i.e., working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility) as one component of a larger system of self-regulation, play in the reading comprehension of English Learners and monolingual speakers.

Co-Principal Investigator
Kelly B. Cartwright serves as Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Teacher Preparation at Christopher Newport University (CNU) where she directs the Reading, Executive function, and Development Lab (READ Lab). 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.

Angeliki Altani

Post Doctoral Associate

Angeliki Altani holds a PhD in Educational Psychology and has a complementary background in Cognitive Science and Linguistics. Her research centers on the cognitive processes underlying reading development across languages, aiming to understand the mechanisms involved in reading fluency and their relation to reading comprehension. She is also interested in the role of executive functions in the development of skilled reading. Angeliki has extensive experience in conducting school-based research, using eye-tracking and experimental behavioral design.

Data Manager

Abhijith Reddy is a graduate student at College of Information Studies, University of Maryland pursuing Master of Information Management and holds a B.E in Information Technology from Osmania University, India. Abhijith has worked as a Software Engineer, Data and Business Intelligence for Optum, UnitedHealth Group for 2 years before joining the University of Maryland. Abhijith aims to work on contemporary challenges in building applications to leverage data at scale. He loves coding, sports and cooking.

Sophia Waltz

Co-ordinator

Sophia Waltz graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in Special Education in the Spring of 2023. She has experience teaching in a variety of classroom settings, but is specializing in teaching students with moderate to profound disabilities. This is her first experience working in research, and she is assisting with data organization. Sophia is completing a masters in Special Education in the 2023-2024 school year.

Marieh Arnett

Data Associate

Marieh Arnett is a graduate student pursuing an M.S. in the Quantitative Methodology: Measurement and Statistics program at 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 with the team by helping with the behind the scenes along side Angeliki. Vanessa has also worked closely with Yasmine 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.