Laura Valderrama, a doctoral student in Educational Psychology, was awarded the 2023 Dissertation Research Award from the American Psychological Association. Valderrama will receive a $10,000 award to offset dissertation research costs.
In addition to the award, Valderrama will be invited to present her research at the 2024 APA Convention in Seattle, Washington in 2024 and have her work featured in their Science Spotlight newsletter.
Valderrama's research focuses on the biliteracy practices of Latino children and the training of future teachers on issues about language diversity. Most of her professional experience has focused on teaching English to speakers of other languages, linguistics, language acquisition, and teacher training. She is also a research assistant and lab manager in the Educational Psychology Psycholinguistics Lab.