Dr. William Heward, BCBA-D

William L. Heward, Ed.D., BCBA-D, Professor Emeritus, Department of Education and Human Ecology, Ohio State University. He has taught at universities in Brazil, Japan, Portugal, and Singapore, and has presented lectures and workshops in 22 other countries. He is the co-author of Applied Behavior Analysis (3rd ed., Pearson, 2020), Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education (12th ed., Pearson, 2022), and Let's Make a Contract: A Positive Way to Change Your Child's Behavior (Collective Book Studio, 2022). He has received the Fred S. Keller Behavior Education Award from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association for contributions to education and behavior analysis, the Ellen P. Rees Behavioral Concept Transfer Award from the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Research, and the Distinguished Psychology Alumna Award from Western Michigan University. A Fellow and past President of the International Association for Behavior Analysis, Bill is researching "low-tech" methods to improve the effectiveness of group instruction in inclusive classrooms.

Dr. Jill Derdig, Ed-D

Jill C. Derdig, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus of Education at Ohio Dominican University and has trained special education teachers for 30 years. At ODU, she received the Booth-Ferris Master Faculty Award and was named a Person of Influence for ODU's Centennial Celebration. She is also a long-time member of the Board of Directors of St. Joseph's Home for Women with Disabilities, a curriculum specialist for the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, and a consultant for Centro da Vilariñha, a program in Porto, Portugal, that teaches independent living and vocational skills to teens and young adults with developmental disabilities. She has also served as a visiting professor at Keio University in Tokyo and has presented workshops for teachers and parents throughout Europe, South America, and Asia. She has written books and publications for parents, including Involving Parents of Students with Special Needs: 25 Ready-to-Use Strategies (Corwin Press, 2008).

Dr. Mickey Keenan BCBA-D

Professor Mickey Keenan, BCBA-D, is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Distinguished Community Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Ulster University in Northern Ireland, and a Trustee of the Cambridge Behavior Research Centre. He is the founder of the charity PEAT (Parents' Education as Autism Therapists; www.peatni.org) . He has received numerous awards for his tireless efforts to promote applied behavior analysis in communities in Ireland and beyond. He has received the Equal Opportunity Award from the British Psychological Society, the Individual Achievement Award from the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis, the Public Service Award for Behavior Analysis from the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis (presented in Chicago in May 2008), and the Michael Hemingway Award from the Behavior Analyst Certification Commission (presented in New Orleans in March 2014). Together with his wife, Professor Carola Dillenberger, he is the author of the first multimedia textbook on behavior analysis, Behavior Analysis: A Primer, available for purchase at the iTunes bookstore for Mac.

Dr. Carola Dillenberger BCBA-D

Professor Dillenberger is Director of the Centre for Behaviour Analysis at Queen's (www.qub.ac.uk/cba), where he is Course Director for the MSc in Autism Spectrum Disorder (MScASD) and teaches the MSc in Applied Behaviour Analysis (MScABA).

This research has included a large-scale study of autism services in Northern Ireland (the BASE project) and the development of SimpleSteps (Autism Edition; www.simplestepsautism.com), an online learning resource for parents and professionals (see www.stamppp.com).

The goal of this research effort is to develop an informed research agenda for alcohol and drug use, serving as an important one-stop resource for all those seeking to effect change.

Dr. Matthew Leong BCBA-D

In 2001, she received her Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Arizona. After earning her degree, she discovered and was inspired by behavior analysis, which led her to work with children and adults with disabilities. She taught public elementary and junior high schools in Kumamoto for several years through the JET Program. She then earned her Master's and Doctoral degrees in Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) under the supervision of Dr. Linda Hayes. During this time, she worked in the UNR Childhood Autism Program under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Ghezzi and as a course and practicum instructor for the UNR Behavior Analysis Satellite Program. She also held postdoctoral positions in Tanzania with the nonprofit organization APOPO and UNR's Animal Behavior Laboratory (ABL), conducting research on odor detection under the supervision of Dr. Linda Hayes.
Matthew's primary research interests, both fundamental and conceptual, are the role of motivation and emotion in learning, and how an individual's physiological characteristics interact with the environment to determine their psychological characteristics. This fundamental research is conducted at ABL, where he is a collaborator and supervisor . This research also includes interdisciplinary collaborations with researchers outside of behavioral science.
In addition to his fundamental and conceptual interests, Matthew is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and serves as a faculty advisor on service contracts with Washoe County School District, NV Rural Regional Center, and NV Sierra Regional Center. His clinical research interests include treatment integrity, observation as a behavioral repertoire, and skill maintenance and generalization following behavioral treatment.

Dr. Christina Peters

BCBA-D

Christina Peters (Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA) is a doctoral-level, board-certified behavior analyst who has been working in the field of behavior analysis since 1999. Christina earned her Master's degree in Special Education from Temple University in 2009 and her PhD in Behavioral Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2021.
Christina has extensive experience working in the field. After graduating from high school in 1999, she began her career as a behavior technician with the NBA. She then rose to the position of assistant program manager before leaving to pursue a master's degree at Temple University in Philadelphia under the tutelage of Dr. Philip Heinlein. While in Philadelphia, she worked for several years as a behavior analyst at RemeD Rehabilitation in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where she worked directly with individuals recovering from traumatic brain injury.

In 2013, she left her ReMeD position to complete her PhD at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) under the supervision of Dr. Larry Williams and Dr. Linda Parrott Hayes. While at UNR, she worked with the University of Nevada, Reno's Behavior Analysis Satellite Program, served as a Practicum Supervisor and BCBA Supervisor at the Autism Research Center at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as a Practicum Coordinator and BCBA Supervisor at Easter Seals of Southern California, and as Assistant Director of Person Centered Assessment, Treatment and Habilitation in Reno, Nevada.

Dr. Ainsley Leon, BCBA-D

She served as Associate Director of the UNR Early Childhood Autism Program for several years and currently specializes in parent behavioral training and school counseling. She teaches numerous practical and didactic courses for UNR undergraduate and graduate students. In 2017, she was awarded the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Scholarship for her longitudinal study of the development of mother-toddler dialogic interactions during early reinforcement behavioral intervention with autism. Her research interests include the therapeutic utility of assessment, behavioral parent training, and early childhood verbal behavior development.

Dr. Pretender Narang BCBA

Dr. Preetinder Narang is a Certified Behavior Analyst with the Surrey School District in British Columbia, Canada . She has 20 years of experience providing behavior analysis and consulting services to children and adolescents with ASD in home, school, and community settings. She has a strong background in positive behavior support (PBS) and completed her Master's in Special Education at the University of British Columbia under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Pat Mirenda and Dr. Joseph Russin. In 2022, she completed her PhD in Developmental Psychology and Education (Early Learning Cohort) at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on competency-based behavior training for school paraprofessionals, and she served as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the BACB's RBT Standards Committee. She is an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, where she lectures on classroom management, assessment and positive behavior support in schools and communities, and interventions for children and adolescents with behavioral disorders.