Associate Director for the Institute of Behavioral Studies to Receive 2017 BABAT Student Paper Award
The is pleased to announce that Institute for Behavioral Studies Associate Director Bryan Blair, Ph.D., LABA, BCBA will receive the Student Paper Award at this year’s Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy (BABAT) annual conference to be held on October 11 - 13, 2017 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Blair, a former student — and current assistant professor — at the Van Loan School will be recognized for his research on Equivalence-Based Instruction (EBI). The award is given to a student who conducted high-quality research in behavior analysis. He will present his research at the conference awards ceremony and will receive an honorarium and a plaque recognizing his original research.
"I am incredibly honored to receive the BABAT Student Paper Award,” said Blair. “I am grateful to my mentor, Dr. Michael Dorsey, the members of my Dissertation committee, and my fellow researchers — without their guidance and support, this project would have never happened.”
In the research study, EBI was used to train nine college students and three direct care staff to visually analyze graphs. Training resulted in the formation of five equivalence classes by all participants consisting of three members (graph, functional relation rule, functional relation statement). In addition, the skills were maintained for up to two weeks and generalized to untrained graphs.
“Given the fact that this study was selected among many other high-quality submissions is a testament to both the time that was invested by my research team and the social relevance of equivalence-based instruction,” said Blair. “The topic might be a bit eclectic, but it is refreshing that the selection committee recognized the importance of this type of research."
Several of Blair’s colleagues from the Institute will be attending and presenting at this year’s BABAT Conference: Michael F. Dorsey, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Professor of Education and Director of the Institute; Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Director of Programs in ABA and Autism and Professor of Education; and Sung Woo Kahng, Ph.D., BCBA-D,
Adjunct Doctoral Advisor.
“The BABAT Student Paper Award represents one of the most prestigious honors to the advancement of the science of human behavior available to students,” said Dr. Michael F. Dorsey. “Being singled-out by the selection committee for this award, among all the other highly deserving students, speaks to the high standards being applied. The work of Dr. Blair is deserving of this honor and will provide future Student Paper Award applicants with yet another example of the results of hard work and commitment.”
The Institute for Behavioral Studies at Endicott’s Van Loan School provides students with the opportunity to focus on academic curricula related to the study of applied behavior analysis (ABA) in the context of delivering effective educational services to learners with special needs. Online and hybrid graduate degree and certificate programs are available.
Learn more about the Institute for Behavioral Analysis and its degree and certificate programs in ABA and Autism.