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Penn ABA Conference Speaker Biographies

William Ahearn, Ph.D., BCBA

Invited Speaker & Workshop presenter

Saul Axelrod, Ph.D., BCBA

Invited Speaker


Richard M. Foxx, Ph.D., BCBA

Invited Speaker & PennABA Executive Officer

Kimberly Schreck, Ph.D., BCBA

Invited Speaker

Tristram Smith, Ph.D.

Invited Speaker & Workshop presenter


Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., BCBA

Invited Speaker & Workshop presenter

    William Ahearn, Ph.D., BCBA

    Dr. Ahearn is Board Certified Behavior Analyst who serves as the Director

    of Research at the New England Center for Children and is a Clinical Assistant

    Professor in the Masters in Applied Behavior Analysis (MABA) Program at

    Northeastern University. He is also Past-President of the Berkshire

    Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy (BABAT). Bill received his

    doctorate in experimental psychology at Temple University in 1992 and

    subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Kennedy Krieger

    Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  Dr. Ahearn then

    served as Program Manager for the Inpatient Pediatric Feeding Program at

    the Children’s Seashore House in Philadelphia before moving to the New

    England Center for Children in 1996.  Bill has written book chapters on

    providing services to children with ASDs and has published studies that have

    appeared in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Journal

    of Applied Behavior Analysis, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of

    Behavior, Behavior Modification, Animal Learning and Behavior, The

    Lancet, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, The

    Behavior Analyst Behavior Analysis: In Practice, and Behavioral

    Interventions.  Dr. Ahearn currently serves on the Board of Editors for the

    Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Behavioral Interventions and

    provides service to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and the

    Association for Behavior Analysis.

    Saul Axelrod, Ph.D., BCBA


    Saul Axelrod is Professor of Education at Temple University.  He received his

    doctorate from Florida State University and was postdoctoral research fellow

    at the University of Kansas.  His major interests include applying behavior

    analysis principles to the problems of managing classrooms, increasing the

    academic development of children of poverty, decreasing the self-injurious

    and aggressive behavior of people with severe handicaps, and disseminating

    effective educational technologies for children with autism.

    Dr. Axelrod has served on the boards of editor of several journals, including

    the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Journal of Behavioral Education,

    Child and Family Behavior Therapy, and Behavior Modification.  He is author

    of numerous journal articles.  He is an author or editor of Behavior

    Modification for the Classroom Teacher, Behavior Analysis and Treatment,

    How to Use Group Contingencies, and How to Improve Classroom Behavior

    Series.  He is cofounder of the Delaware Valley Association for Behavior

    Analysis. In 2006, Dr. Axelrod was the first recipient of the Behavior Analyst

    Certification Board’s Michael Hemingway Award for Distinguished Service to

    Behavior Analysis. In 2007, he was elected Fellow of the Association for

    Behavior Analysis.

    Richard M. Foxx, Ph.D., BCBA

    Dr. Foxx is a Professor of Psychology at Penn State Harrisburg. He is a Clinical

    Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine of the Pennsylvania

    State University. Dr. Foxx has written eight books and five have been

    translated into other languages. He has co-edited two books Making a

    Difference: Behavioral Intervention for Autism and Controversial Therapies for

    Developmental Disabilities. His latest book is Interventions for treating the

    eating problems of children with autism spectrum disorders and

    developmental disabilities. He has written over 130 scientific publications,

    has made 13 training films, and has given over 1700 talks on the use of

    behavioral principles to treat individuals with autism, mental retardation,

    mental illness, emotional disturbances, and typical development. Dr. Foxx is

    an internationally recognized expert in treating behavioral problems. He has

    lectured in 17 foreign countries and 47 states throughout the United States.

    He is the editor-in-chief of the journal, Behavioral Interventions and is on the

    editorial board of seven scientific journals. Dr. Foxx is a Fellow in five

    divisions of the American Psychological Association, the American

    Psychological Society, The Association for Behavior Analysis- International and

    the American Association on Mental Retardation. He was the President of the

    Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis; the Association for

    Behavior Analysis; and the Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental

    Disabilities of the American Psychological Association. In 1998 he received a

    Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Association for

    Behavior Analysis and was made an honorary member of the Norwegian

    Association for Behavior Analysis. In 2001, he received an award from the

    New York State Association for Behavior Analysis for significant contributions

    to behavior analysis. In 2003 he received the Society for the Advancement of

    Behavior Analysis Award for Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the

    Mass Media. In 2007 he received the inaugural John Jacobson award from

    Division 33 of the American Psychological Association. He helped found the

    Pennsylvania Association for Behavior Analysis, was its first President and

    serves as its executive director. He also was president of the Pennsylvania

    chapter of the American Association on Mental Retardation. He has served as

    an expert witness in a number of court cases involving individuals with autism

    and developmental disabilities, including Youngberg vs. Romeo which was

    heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a licensed psychologist and Board

    Certified Behavior Analyst. One of his books has sold over two million copies

    and has been translated into seven languages and one of his training films,

    “Harry” (the treatment of a self-abusive man), has won numerous cinematic

    awards.

    Kimberly Schreck, Ph.D., BCBA


    Dr. Kimberly Anne Schreck is an Associate Professor of Psychology and

    Coordinator of the Applied Behavior Analysis Masters Program at Penn State

    Harrisburg. She is a licensed psychologist and a board certified behavior

    analyst. Her research and clinical expertise include autism, intellectual and

    developmental disabilities, early intervention, feeding problems, children’s

    behavior problems, and childhood sleep disorders. She has published over

    20 articles, reviews, and portions of books on these subjects.


    Tristram Smith, Ph.D.


    Tristram Smith, Ph.D., is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University

    of Rochester Medical Center (URMC).  He serves as the research director for

    the Multisite Young Autism Project, which is a federally-funded study on early,

    intensive behavioral intervention based on the UCLA/Lovaas model for

    children with autism.  He is also an investigator in a study in the Center for

    Studies To Advance Autism Research and Treatment at the University of

    Rochester. He has authored or co-authored a number of the most widely-cited

    studies on treatment outcomes for individuals with autism spectrum disorders.


    Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., BCBA

    Mary Jane Weiss received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers

    University in 1990.  She became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in 2000.

    She is an Associate Research Professor at Rutgers University, and she is the

    Director of Research and Training at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities

    Center at Rutgers University.  Her clinical and research interests center on

    defining best practice ABA techniques, on identifying the specific utilities of

    various instructional methodologies within ABA, on evaluating the impact of

    ABA in learners with autism spectrum disorders, and in maximizing family

    members’ expertise and adaptation.  She has written numerous articles and

    four books on autism, Practical solutions for educating young children with

    high functioning autism and Asperger’s Syndrome (2008), Right from the

    start: Behavioral Intervention for young children with autism (co-authored

    with Sandra Harris, 2nd edition 2007), Reaching out, joining in: Teaching

    social skills to young children with autism (co-authored with Sandra Harris,

    2001), and Sibling stories: Reflections on life with a brother or sister on the

    autism spectrum (co-authored with Lynne Stern Feiges, 2004).  She is also a

    regular presenter at regional, national, and international conferences on topics

    relevant to ABA and autism.  She is currently the President of the Autism

    Special Interest Group of the Association for Behavior Analysis.