People

Dr. Anna Ingeborg Petursdottir directs the Language & Learning Lab at University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Anna was born and raised in Akureyri in northern Iceland. She earned her B.A. in psychology from the University of Iceland, and her Masters and PhD degrees in behavior analysis from Western Michigan University.  Anna recently joined the faculty at UNR as an associate professor of behavior analysis in the Department of Psychology, having previously been on faculty at Texas Christian University from 2006 to 2023.  She also holds a part-time lecturer appointment at Reykjavik University, where she teaches a course every year.  Anna's interest in verbal behavior and related topics goes back to her early experiences working in the field of autism, and her research questions remain frequently driven by practical questions and concerns. Besides nerding out in the lab, Anna likes to hike (a brand new interest since moving to Nevada), ride her bike, spend time with family, travel, read literary fiction, watch the occasional soccer game, and play the piano (badly). 

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Current Graduate Students

Abraão Figueira de Melo 

Abraão has been a doctoral student at the University of Nevada, Reno since 2021. Before moving to Reno, he lived in his hometown of Belém, located in the northern region of Brazil. Abraão has been interested in the analysis of verbal behavior since his first semester in the Federal University of Pará, where he earned both his Bachelor’s degree in psychology and his Master’s degree in behavior theory and research with an emphasis in experimental psychology. Abraão has specific interests across the basic, theoretical and applied domains of behavior analysis, all revolving around issues in the different functionalistic approaches to verbal behavior, particularly between derived relational responding (including equivalence), Skinner’s verbal behavior and interbehavioral psychology. When he’s not working, Abraão loves hiking around the scenic mountains of the Reno-Tahoe area, traveling to new places and meeting new people, going to local band shows, and spending quality time with friends and other loved ones. 


Sadie Klassen 

Sadie Klassen is currently a Master's student at the University of Nevada, Reno's Behavior Analysis program. In 2021, Sadie graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Addiction Treatments. She has spent a large portion of her graduate career developing and researching behavioral economic analyses to address various choice related behaviors like self control and impulsivity. Outside of her interests in behavioral economics and addiction treatment, she has been spending a majority of her time acquiring knowledge related to foreign language learning and the potential behavioral processes involved in making language acquisition more efficient. One of her current projects involves defining, in behavior analytic terms, what it means to be fluent in a language. She will continue to explore similar topics related to language as she works with Dr. Petursdottir in the coming years. 


Current Undergraduate Students



Affiliates

Aarti Thakore, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA, Central Texas Autism Center

Dr. Thakore is Director of Clinical Research at the Central Texas Autism Center (CTAC).  She has been working in the field for almost 20 years, empowering individuals with special needs and their families from different cultures and sections of the society, globally. She has extensive experience in clinical practice across various hospitals, non-profit organizations, and public schools. She is very passionate about research and applications of Behavior Science to overall learning experiences of individuals with and without disabilities. Her areas of interest in behavioral research are: Replication and extension of verbal behavior research to examine efficient procedures for teaching language to children diagnosed with Autism, Functional assessment to prevent the problem behaviors in young individuals with disabilities, and extension of Skinner’s analysis of behavior in understanding of machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Our lab has had ongoing research collaboration with Dr.  Thakore since 2017.

Lab Alumni 

PhD (from Texas Christian University):

Dr. Juliana Oliveira, Assistant Professor, Munroe-Meyer Institute at University of Nebraska Medical School

Dr. Reagan Cox, Assistant Professor of Practice, University of Kansas. 

Dr. Bailey Devine, President, Behavior Experts of Texas

Dr. Tracy Lepper, Associate Professor of Psychology and Program Director, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University 

Dr. Charlotte Carp, Clinical Assistant Professor and Program Director, University of Houston


M.S. (from Texas Christian University):

Dr. Sean Peterson, PhD in behavior analysis from University of Nebraska Medical Center


Past visiting graduate students (UNR and TCU):

Heloisa Zapparoli from Federal University of São Carlos

Josiane Donadeli from Federal University of São Carlos

Luis Freitas from Federal University of Pará

Jonas Gamba from Federal University of São Carlos