Michigan State University
Research Study #4: Project EMP2: An Intervention Development Study for Youth with Disabilities At-risk for Justice Involvement
Research Team: Dr. Marisa Fisher, Dr. Paul Wehman
Agency Partner: Lansing School District Consultant: Sean Hankins, Noah Johnston
Connie Sung Ph.D., Associate Professor,
Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education
Connie Sung, Ph.D., is an associate professor of rehabilitation counseling and co-director of Spartan Project SEARCH. Her educational background includes rehabilitation counseling psychology, neuropsychology, and occupational science. Her research interests focus on biopsychosocial factors associated with successful transition, psychosocial and employment outcomes as well as the quality of life of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Sung is also a Mary Switzer Fellow awarded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). She has published over 50 refereed journal articles and book chapters. She is a principal investigator of several community-based participatory research projects, including the evaluation of intervention strategies to improve career development and employment outcomes of transition-aged individuals with autism and/or epilepsy. As the co-director of Spartan Project SEARCH, Sung and her students support students with intellectual/developmental disabilities who participate in internship experiences across the MSU campus. She also conducts research to examine the program's impact on the transition outcomes of participating students and the campus climate/attitudes toward individuals with disabilities.
Marisa Fisher, Ph.D., Associate Professor,
Vanderbilt University
Marisa Fisher is an associate professor of special education and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst - Doctoral (BCBA-D). She is the director of the MSU Center for Services, Training and Research for Independence and Desired Employment, or STRIDE. As a scholar, she evaluates the social outcomes of adolescents and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Williams syndrome (WS) and other genetic conditions that result in intellectual disability (ID). She has two primary areas of research. First, she studies risk factors and experiences related to friendship outcomes and social victimization among adolescents and adults with IDD; and she designs community-based interventions to increase social competence and acceptance and to decrease social vulnerability and victimization of individuals with IDD. Second, she employs a community-based participatory research approach and various methodologies to engage stakeholders to improve school-to-work transition and ensure young adults with IDD have the work-related social and job-readiness skills necessary to secure and maintain competitive, community-based employment. She has a research grant from the Institute of Education Sciences to examine the impact of work-related social skills and job readiness instruction on employment outcomes for students in the school-to-work transition program Project SEARCH.
Judy Havlicek, Ph.D., Associate Professor,
School of Social Work Affiliate, Center for Social & Behavioral Science
Marisa Fisher is an associate professor of special education and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst - Doctoral (BCBA-D). She is the director of the MSU Center for Services, Training and Research for Independence and Desired Employment, or STRIDE. As a scholar, she evaluates the social outcomes of adolescents and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Williams syndrome (WS) and other genetic conditions that result in intellectual disability (ID). She has two primary areas of research. First, she studies risk factors and experiences related to friendship outcomes and social victimization among adolescents and adults with IDD; and she designs community-based interventions to increase social competence and acceptance and to decrease social vulnerability and victimization of individuals with IDD. Second, she employs a community-based participatory research approach and various methodologies to engage stakeholders to improve school-to-work transition and ensure young adults with IDD have the work-related social and job-readiness skills necessary to secure and maintain competitive, community-based employment. She has a research grant from the Institute of Education Sciences to examine the impact of work-related social skills and job readiness instruction on employment outcomes for students in the school-to-work transition program Project SEARCH.