ABAI Science Blog Site Coordinators 2023 – 2024

Dr. Colin Harte is currently a post-doctoral research fellow at Universidade Federal de São Carlos and Instituto Par in São Paulo, Brazil. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in psychology from Maynooth University in Ireland, and a PhD in psychology from Ghent University in Belgium. His primary research interests center around the conceptual and empirical development of Relational Frame Theory (RFT) as a behavior-analytic account of human language and cognition, and its application to understanding and alleviating human psychological suffering. On these topics, he has to date published 27 articles in peer reviewed journals, 3 book chapters in edited volumes, and regularly presents his work at ABAI conventions and other behavior science conferences. He also currently serves on the editorial boards of The Psychological Record, the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Behavior and Social Issues, and the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. 

Jeff Kupfer received his doctoral degree in psychology from the University of Florida, specializing in the experimental analysis of behavior. He has conducted research in animal models of complex learning and psychopathology, as well as research examining environmental influences on bipedal travel in persons with visual loss. Jeff is a licensed psychologist in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Nebraska, a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst, and a lecturer at the University of Colorado-Denver. He was the first president of the Four Corners Association for Behavior Analysis, and a founder and Trustee for the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

Jeff has been practicing behavior analysis since 1984 specializing in the treatment of severe behavioral disorders in persons with brain injury, developmental disabilities, mental illness, and other neurologically-based disorders. He has published in the areas of behavior analysis, pharmacology, and visual impairments, has served as a guest reviewer for professional journals, and guest editor for the journal Brain Injury.

Jeff is the Clinical Director for Oliver Behavioral Consultants and a consultant for Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health, both located in Colorado.

Melissa Swisher, PhD, is a lecturer in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. She teaches undergraduate courses in introductory psychology, statistics, research methods, applied behavior analysis, learning, memory, and cognitive psychology. Dr. Swisher has conducted basic behavior analytic research with rats, pigeons, and people throughout her undergraduate and graduate training. Her scholarship focuses on stimulus equivalence and basic stimulus control. She has reviewed for The Psychological Record, Behavioural Processes, and Learning & Behavior and served on the board of editors for the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. 

Mirari Elcoro works as Professor of Psychology at Framingham State University (FSU) in the Department of Psychology and Philosophy. Dr. Elcoro completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology at Universidad Católica Andres Bello in Caracas, Venezuela, then received a Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Psychology, with a focus in Behavior Analysis from West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV). She holds a License in Applied Behavior Analysis (LABA) in Massachusetts, and is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA, with Doctoral designation). She teaches courses within the fields of Psychology, Behavior Analysis and Neuroscience. Her interests are in the history of science, the scholarship of teaching and learning, the intersections between behavior analysis and neuroscience, faculty mentoring, and faculty and librarian labor and union issues.  

Rocío Rosales, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LABA (she/her/ella), is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Program Coordinator of the Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism Studies graduate program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada Reno, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She is Mexican American and a first-generation college student. Her research and clinical interests span a range of topics including applications of verbal behavior and derived stimulus relations, student and caregiver training, instructional design, and issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in behavior analysis. She previously served as Associate Editor for The Analysis of Verbal Behavior and The Psychological Record, on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, and as inaugural Editor of ABAI’s Behavior Dissemination Blog: Verbal Behavior Matters. 

Ron Allen, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LABA is Professor of Practice and Director of the Doctoral Program for the Department of Behavior Analysis at Simmons University. He is also the Director of Behavioral Treatment Services (BTS) for Riverside Community Care in Lynnfield, MA. In that capacity he supervises three Counseling Therapists, a Prescriber, and 6 Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) all of whom provide dedicated interdisciplinary services for adults supported by the MA Department of Developmental Services (DDS). Dr. Allen also serves on the Board of Directors of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. His research interests include brain injury, the management of negatively reinforced challenging behavior, adjunctive behavior, derived stimulus relations, conditioned reinforcement, the history of Behavior Analysis, and the philosophy of Behaviorism.   

Tom Critchfield is a past President of ABAI and of Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and has served as associate editor for three journals. He is a committed generalist (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=EhihzkkAAAAJ) with special interest these days in using data to better understand our discipline’s place in, and impact upon, the broader society. Outside of professional life he swims, cycles, and cooks for fun, and thinks it’s funny when people fall down (e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Wor08C-Bc), as long as it’s not him.