Our Research Team
Hope Sparks Lancaster is the Director of the Etiologies of Language and Literacy Laboratory in the Center for Childhood Deafness, Language and Learning at Boys Town National Research Hospital. Dr. Lancaster studies language and literacy development and disorders and is particularly interested in behavioral and genetic overlaps between speech disorders, developmental language disorder, and dyslexia. She also studies language and literacy development in individuals with other conditions, such as cleft palate.
Favorite book(s): American Gods, Green Rider
Alicia Buttner is the Manager of the Etiologies of Language and Literacy Laboratory. She earned her MA and PhD in Psychology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. In her role, she coordinates research activities, assists in overseeing lab operations, and contributes to manuscript and research grant proposal preparation.
Favorite book(s): And Then There Were None, Gone Girl, The Yellow Wallpaper
Ryan Parks is a Research Assistant with an interdisciplinary background, having a B.S. in Physics and an M.A. in Linguistics, both from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Working with the Etiologies of Language and Literacy Laboratory, he transcribes speech sounds, scores and codes data sets, and assists in other sundry research tasks. In his own words, "Transcribing speech sounds makes me very skilled at listening closely to everything you say, while also paying no attention to what you're actually saying."
Favorite book(s): Fahrenheit 451, Dune
Internal Collaborators
External Collaborators
