Student Accomplishments

We're very proud of our CDIS student Lois Umali!  She received the Outstanding Academic Graduate Student award.  She was celebrated during the College of Health Professions Student Awards Luncheon.  Great job Lois!

Congratulations to Zoe Starnes-Kemper!  She received the Outstanding Academic Undergraduate Student Award.  This took place during the College of Health Professions Student Awards Luncheon in the Round Rock campus.

Congratulations to Sarah Paddock, one of our CDIS Leveler student!  Sarah obtained 2nd place in the College of Health Professions Research Forum.  The tittle of her research poster was "Positive Themes Emerging from Collaborative Stories Created by Persons with Aphasia.  Great job Sarah!

The following CDIS students collaborated with Dr. Yang to develop her “Acoustic Characteristics of English Intonation in Mandarin-English Bilinguals” research poster.  The poster won 2nd place during the CHP Research Forum.  Congratulations to Gracie Bouchard, Darcy Carothers, Jaycee Danford, Kelsey Majek, Alexis Reinwald, Grace Sargent, and Zoe Starnes-Kemper for this achievement!  Keep up the good work!

Congratulations to the CDIS Class of 2023 Graduate Students!

Congratulations to our recent scholarship recipients!

• Amit Belzer-Merit Scholarship
• Samantha Ross-Merit Scholarship
• Anabella Villarreal-Merit Scholarship
• Haylie Hatterman-Merit Scholarship
• Annali Rubio-Merit Scholarship
• Hailey Wren-Merit Scholarship
• Natalia Martinez-Hispanic Policy Network Scholarship
• Kelsey Majek-Raetta Bell McDuff Scholarship
• Paige Lillard- Sertoma Scholarship
• Tallie Alsup- John D. Wendel Scholarship

We are so proud of you!

Ana Lucia Hernandez, a pre-CDIS major, will participate in the NSF REU Machine Learning Analytics Augmented Reality Smart and Connected Health during summer 2023. She will be collaborating with students from Engineering, Computer Science, Biology, and Psychology.

Ana Elisa Quinonez Camacho, a pre-CDIS student, will be participating in the NSF REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program, the Language of Science and the Science of Language at Ohio State University in summer 2023. This program is a hands-on program where students will conduct research with mentorship from OSU faculty members and learn how to communicate about research and language science with professionals and the public.

Natalia Martinez, a current senior and incoming 1st year grad, was awarded one of the Hispanic Policy Network Scholarships. We are so proud of her!

Josyln Balli, a first year graduate student in the bilingual concentration, was awarded the Empress Zedler Scholarship by the Texas Speech Language Hearing Foundation. Joslyn was selected because of her strong academic record and high clinical ratings.

Congratulations to Lois Umali for all her hard work on her research with Dr. Maria Resendiz. They recently traveled to Puerto Rico where Lois presented her poster at SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science).

Congratulations to the CDIS Class of 2022 Graduate Students!

Quan Nguyen and Lois Umali

Congratulations to Quan Nguyen and Lois Umali for their outstanding student achievements as a 2nd year grad and senior! They were celebrated on April 29, 2022 at the College of Health Professions Student Awards Luncheon. We are so proud of their hard work and success. 

Lois Umali

Lois Umali was awarded the Nina Vaca Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award at the SXSW Innovation Lab where she and Dr. Resendiz had the opportunity to show the Nurturing Neurodiversity App they are working on in collaboration with Engineering. Keep up the amazing work, Lois!

Adriana Garcia

Adriana Garcia has been awarded a $5,000 Graduate Student Scholarship from the ASHA Foundation. The Graduate Student Scholarship recognizes master's and doctoral students in communication sciences and disorders who demonstrate academic achievement and promise. She received her award at the ASHA Convention in Washington, DC in November 2021. We are very proud of her!

Adriana was also selected to serve as the VP for Student State Officers, Central Region of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (National NSSLHA). She will be serving on both the National NSSLHA Executive Council and on ASHA's Board of Special Interest Group Coordinators from 2021 through 2023. Way to go Adriana!

Stacy Robinson

CDIS Senior, Stacy Robinson, was elected as the Texas NSSLHA Student State Officer (SSO) for Audiology. Congratulations on your achievement, Stacy! 

Lois Umali

Lois Umali, CDIS senior, was awarded the Raetta Bell McDuff Endowed Scholarship for the 2021-2022 school year for $7,000. She also received this merit-based scholarship during her junior year for $3,400 for spring and summer semesters. We are so proud of you!

Congratulations to the CDIS Class of 2021 Graduate Students!

Anna Stewart

Anna Stewart, a 2021 graduate, was accepted to Harvard Medical School's Division of Medical Sciences Ph.D program with a Speech Hearing Bioscience Technology concentration. At Texas State, she was a Terry Foundation Scholar undergraduate majoring in Communication Disorders with a minor in psychology.

As an Undergraduate Research Fellow, she received a $1000 grant to conduct a joint health science-engineering study to evaluate an app created for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). While working on this project, she also presented with Texas State's High Performance Engineering Research group at the SXSW innovation lab competition and placed as a group finalist. She also completed an undergraduate honors thesis from this research experience and her project was accepted by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) for presentation at their national convention. We are so proud of you Anna!

Adriana Garcia

Adriana Garcia, a 2021 graduate and incoming first-year graduate student, was selected to receive the Alpha Lambda Delta Dr. Margaret Berry Graduate Fellowship. She was one of eight students chosen for this competitive national award. Adriana was also selected to represent the Texas State chapter of Phi Kappa Phi as its nominee for the national Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship competition. This nomination earned her the 2021 Texas State Phi Kappa Phi Chapter Fellowship Award. Congrats Adriana!

Samantha Fridley

Samantha Fridley, a 2020 graduate, was accepted into the prestigious and selective EPIK Program to teach English in Korea. Sam is posted to Gongju and teaches at Mokmyeon Elementary School and Jeongsan Elementary School. She enjoys learning the Korean language, learning about bilingual language acquisition, working with children, and eating Korean food! She is putting her studies in speech and language development to good use. Great work, Sam!

Bari Enders

Bari Enders graduated from Texas State in 2013 with a Master’s in Communication Disorders. She was in the autism cognate and received specialized training that is now shaping her work and her research. Bari recently wrote us to say, “I can’t believe how well Texas State has prepared me for my career. What we learned has given me so many opportunities. I just started a new job at the Maryland School for the Deaf. I am so excited about this opportunity.”

In addition to her new job, Bari Enders was just accepted to Johns Hopkins University for their Ed.D. program, with a specialization in Mind, Brain and Teaching. Her research there will focus on the language use of children who are Deaf and who also have autism. Congratulations Bari!

Madison Segovia

CDIS senior, Madison Segovia submitted a poster to The 23rd annual CHP research forum and was awarded first place for the category of Student Research-Undergraduate. She completed the research with Dr. Mohan. The poster was titled "Perceptions in dementia across students in health professions programs at Texas State University". The main goal of the study was the measure students attitudes and knowledge about individuals with dementia. This information can be used by administrators to better prepare students to serve this population upon graduation. 

Additionally, Madison has been selected to participate in Promoting the Next Generation of Researchers (PROGENY) at the 2019 ASHA Convention. PROGENY recognizes and encourages undergraduate researchers. Madison was the first author on the "Perceptions of Dementia Across Graduate Students in Health Professions Programs at Texas State University" poster. This work was completed under the direction of Dr. Mohan.

Emma Womble

Emma Womble, a senior in our CDIS program, has been selected to participate in Promoting the Next Generation of Researchers (PROGENY) at the 2019 ASHA Convention. PROGENY recognizes and encourages undergraduate researchers. Emma was the first author on a poster research presentation "Perception of Articulation Skills in Telepractice Speech Therapy" at ASHA. This work was completed under the direction of Dr. Resendiz.

Eric Rodriguez 

Eric Rodriguez, a senior in our CDIS program, has received a grant in the amount of $996 from the Undergraduate Research Fellowship to continue his research on "Successful factors for hearing screen application on smart devices used during telepractice" to find better hearing screening solutions for teleaudiology internationally. This study is under the supervision of Dr. Resendiz.

Ana Garza

Ana Garza, a senior in our CDIS program, has been selected to participate in Promoting the Next Generation of Researchers (PROGENY) at the 2019 ASHA Convention. PROGENY recognizes and encourages undergraduate researchers. Ana was first author for her research in Administering BAPA Via Telepractice For A Child With ASD.

Amrit Singh

Amrit Singh, a first in our CDIS graduate program, has been awarded the P.E.O International Peace Scholarship. The International Peace Scholarship Fund provides scholarships of up to $12,500 for women from other countries to study at the graduate level in the United States and Canada. She was also a recipient of the UCO Foundation scholarship and the Global and Zafar Farzaneh Scholarship. AJ has also been awarded the American Association of University Woman (AAUW) International Fellowship. She is the second person from Texas State to win this award. The AAUW is the nation's leading voice on providing equity and education for women and girls. AJ is from Malaysia where there is a lack of speech-language pathologists. This award will support her in her studies of neurogenic, voice and swallowing disorders. 

Quan Nguyen 

Quan Nguyen, a junior in our CDIS undergraduate program, was awarded the Presidential Upper-Level Scholarship for 2019-2020 by Texas State University. Quan is one out of eight recipients for this competitive scholarship. The Scholarship provides financial assistance and special recognition to students who have been outstanding in their college work.

Quan this year has also earned co-authorship with Dr. Schwarz, Dr. Resendiz, Dr. Gonzales, and Matthew Nguyen. He was able to present his work at ASHA. 

Morgan Shuster

Morgan Shuster, a 1st-year CDIS graduate student, was awarded the Empress Zedler Scholarship by the Texas Speech Language Hearing Foundation. The Empress Zedler Scholarship supports a scholarship for a student majoring in communication disorders currently enrolled in the graduate program at Texas State University.