CCI congratulates the following faculty members who have been promoted to Associate Professor, effective August, 2023.

Yolanda Rankin joined the iSchool faculty in 2017 with experience both in the industry and in academia. Her research interests include designing, developing and evaluating video games to promote learning across various domains, engaging underserved populations in the participatory design of information-based technologies, and developing effective learning environments to promote Computer Science education for K-16 student populations.

Mollie Romano is the Director of the Communication and Early Childhood Research and Practice Center in the School of Communication Science and Disorders. Her research focuses on caregiver implemented interventions to support the development of infants and toddlers with disabilities and those at risk for delays, professional development approaches for early childhood providers, and interventions that target prelinguistic communication skills.

Michelle Therrien (School of Communication Science and Disorders) focuses her work on connection building. She is currently exploring social interaction and friendship for individuals who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), bringing researchers and practitioners together to support the use of evidence-based practices in schools and communities, and forming interdisciplinary collaborations to increase participation of individuals who use AAC in their communities.

Jessica Wendorf Muhamad is the Director of PEAKS laboratory (Participatory, Experientially-based Applied Knowledge for Social Change) in the School of Communication. As a prevention scientist, Dr. Wendorf Muhamad engages in theoretically driven, empirical social research that examines how individuals at the cross-section of multiple vulnerabilities negotiate complex social issues within and between groups, and how nontraditional methods and other participatory approaches enable these processes.