Supporting Students
The VB SIG Student Research Grant Award provides monetary support to conduct empirical research in verbal behavior led by a graduate or undergraduate student. Eligible proposals may be relevant to any topic in verbal behavior (e.g., private events, rule-governed behavior, assessment, second language acquisition, primary or secondary verbal operants) and may include work with non-human animals.
The VB SIG Student Paper Competition provides monetary awards for research papers in verbal behavior led by a graduate or undergraduate student. A submitted paper must be original research/work in the area of verbal behavior with an undergraduate or graduate student as the first author.
2025 Professional Awards and Grants
The VB SIG strives to promote the research and clinical excellence in the practice of verbal behavior and supervision and teaching of other professionals in the field. We are pleased to announce that we will be accepting nominations for 4 professional awards in 2025. Specifically, the Early Career Researcher in Verbal Behavior Award recognizes an early career researcher (within 10 years of doctoral degree) with outstanding contributions to verbal behavior research, the Clinical Supervisor in Verbal Behavior Award recognizes one supervising clinician who is implementing assessment and treatment based on Skinner's analysis of verbal behavior, the Jack Michael Award recognizes one individual for their outstanding contributions to the advancement of the study of verbal behavior, and the John Mabry Research Grant (deadline extended to March 15th) supports an early career researcher in their empirical work.
Past Professional, Student Award, and Grant Winners
2025 Jack Michael Award
Dr. Alice Shillingsburg
University of Nebraska Medical Center
2025 Clinical Supervisor Award in Verbal Behavior
Dr. Lin Du
Teachers College, Columbia University
2025 Early Career Researcher in Verbal Behavior Award
Dr. Mirela Cengher
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
2025 John Mabry Research Grant
Dr. Ciobha McKeown
California State University, Sacramento
Title: Code-Switching in Autistic Adults: A Qualitative Analysis of Audience Control to Inform Conversation Skill Instruction
2025 John Mabry Travel Award
Xuehua “Shirley” Zhao
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
Project Title: Learning-to-Learn: Teaching Bilingualism to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Through Within-Subject Replication
​Advisor: Dr. Mirela Cengher
2025 Student Grant
1st Place Winner: Laura Willoughby
Project Title: A Comparison of Static and Dynamic Stimuli to Teach Action Verb Tacts to Children with Autism
Affiliation: University of North Texas
Advisor: Dr. Sam Bergmann
2nd Place Winner: Sarah Kong
Project Title: Teaching Children with Autism to Mand for Choice-Making Opportunities
Affiliation: Western New England University
Advisor: Dr. Rachel Thompson
3rd Place Winner: Ky Jackson
Project Title: Breaking Out of the Lab: Using Reading to Produce Sorting and Divergent Intraverbals
Affiliation: University of Nebraska Omaha
Advisor: Dr. Sarah Frampton
2025 Student Paper
1st Place Winner: Xuehua Zhao
Project Title: Learning-to-Learn: A Comparison of Monolingual and Bilingual Instructions
Affiliation: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Advisor: Dr. Mirela Cengher
2nd Place Winner: Armando Angulo
Project Title: Assessing Sequential and Simultaneous Bilingualism via the Go/No-Go Successive Matching-to-Sample Procedure
​Affiliation: California State University, Sacramento
Advisor: Dr. Caio Miguel
2nd Place Winner: Carolyn Crysdale
Project Title: Application of a Contingent Vocal Imitation Procedure to Increase Vocalizations in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
​Affiliation: Endicott College
Advisor: Dr. Mary Jane Weiss
3rd Place Winner: Thea Skau Engell
Project Title: The Role of the Echoic in the Acquisition of Tacts
Affiliation: California State University, Sacramento
Advisor: Dr. Caio Miguel