Featured MSU Engaged Scholars
- Brooke Ingersoll, Ph.D.
- Professor, Department of Psychology
- Director, MSU Autism Lab
- College of Social Science
“Bop-bop-bop.”
A mom shakes a maraca to the beat as her toddler looks on. “Now, you do it!” she says.
This simple game can help young children at risk for autism develop imitation skills, a key building block of social communication.
“Imitation is a core behavior for learning all sorts of things,” said Brooke Ingersoll, a professor of clinical psychology at MSU. “We use imitation to learn new skills. We also use imitation as a way of socially connecting with others. So, it’s a very important developmental skill that many children with early signs of autism have difficulty acquiring.”
Ingersoll and a team of researchers, working closely with early-intervention providers and parents/caregivers, hope to help boost children’s social communication skills by increasing access to evidence-based strategies ...
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- Salah Hassan, Ph.D.
- Professor, Department of English
- Director, Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities
- College of Arts and Letters
In June of 2024, a steady arm accompanied Tsaone Mosweu as she approached a wooden lectern on the Blackbox Theatre stage in MSU’s Auditorium. One of her hands was gently placed on the lectern while the other was guided toward the microphone stand next to her. She took a moment to gauge her surroundings before addressing an audience of her peers.
Confidently she began, “I champion the principle of leaving no one behind.”
Mosweu, 28, is a young professional from Botswana living with blindness. She has dedicated her career to promoting reproductive health rights for young women with disabilities. She holds a bachelor’s degree in public health and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in sexual and reproductive rights.
“The harsh truth is that the rights of persons with disabilities are often overlooked, which ...
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- Alexa Warwick, Ph.D.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
- College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
On a windy spring night at the Bengel Wildlife Center in Bath, Michigan, Alexa Warwick led 45 people on a “frog walk.” They were rewarded with a chorus of high-pitched frog calls, each representing a different species. “It can be really incredible to go out at night and listen to them,” Warwick said.
Warwick relishes sharing her love of wildlife and the outdoors with others.
As an MSU conservation biologist, she has focused her research on the ecology and evolution of amphibians such as frogs and salamanders. As a community-engaged researcher, she is equally interested in the role humans have in protecting the rich biodiversity of the natural world.
These passions have intertwined through Warwick’s participation in a study examining the socioeconomic factors that contribute to the spread of disease in the U.S. amphibian pet ...
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