Dr. Kristen McMaster
Guy Bond Chair in Reading, Professor of Special Education
Dr. Kristen McMaster was a special education teacher in Metro Nashville Public Schools before earning her doctoral degree and joining the UMN faculty in 2002. Her research focuses on developing reading and writing assessments and interventions and supporting teachers’ use of data to individualize instruction. Kristen enjoys working with practitioners and consulting with researchers and policymakers in Minnesota as well as nationally and internationally to support evidence-based literacy practices in schools.
Dr. Panayiota (Pani) Kendeou
Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Guy Bond Chair in Reading
Dr. Kendeou develops theoretical models that explain how students learn during reading, and uses those models to design and test innovative, AI technologies that transform instruction and improve learning.
Dr. Steve Nelson
Dr. Amy Schulting
Dr. Amy Schulting is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in dyslexia assessment, intervention and education policy. She is passionate about providing early identification and intervention for students with reading difficulties. Dr. Schulting earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Duke University, with specialized training in learning disabilities and early childhood mental health at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. She has over a decade of experience as licensed psychologist in private practice; her background also includes 30 years of experience in education. Specifically, Dr. Schulting has been the State Dyslexia Specialist at the MN Department of Education (MDE) since 2018 when the position was created through legislation. She is also a former classroom teacher with a master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia, and experience as an education policy researcher at Duke University. Dr. Schulting served on the board of Decoding Dyslexia Minnesota and has worked closely with state legislators to write dyslexia and literacy legislation. She is a certified dyslexia interventionist through the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and the Center for Effective Reading Instruction (CERI), with additional certification in LETRS and the Wilson Reading System.
Dr. Abbey Payeur
Dr. Abbey Payeur began her teaching career in middle school and elementary school classrooms in the Anoka-Hennepin school district. She earned a Ph.D in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Minnesota in 2022. The question, “How do we reach all readers, including those with dyslexia” guided her graduate studies. She currently works on dyslexia research at the University of Minnesota, and is an Assistant Professor of Education at the University of St. Thomas. Abbey is passionate about helping teachers bring the science of reading into practice in their classrooms.
Manjary Guha
PhD Student
Manjary is a PhD student at the University of Minnesota. Before enrolling to the PhD program in the Department of Educational psychology, she earned her Master in Special Education and worked in Boston-Campbridge area as a Special Education teacher. Her research interests are exploring the role of cognitive processes in inference making along activation and integration of prior knowledge; and investigating the neurological markers in identifying reading difficulties and Dyslexia for bilingual and multilingual students.
Dr. Seohyeon Choi
Seohyeon Choi, PhD, recently earned her doctorate in Special Education from the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on supporting students with intensive literacy needs through evidence-based intervention and assessment practices, with particular attention to students from underrepresented backgrounds.