Kyle Flannery defends thesis
Kyle Flannery successfully defended his Master's thesis entitled "Quantitiative Analysis of Language Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Related Genetic Disorders" on April 24, 2020 on Zoom. Kyle's research focused on the use of a quantitative metric to capture atypical patterns of language development milestones in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and related genetic disorders such as Fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, Smith-Magenis syndrome, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, and 16p11.2 deletion syndrome. This work was conducted in collaboration with Geisinger's Autism and Developmental Medicine Institute (ADMI) in Lewisburg, PA. Kyle has presented his research at several regional venues including the Tri-Beta Northeast District 2 Convention, the Commonwealth of Pennsylavnia University Biologists Annual Meeting, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education STEM Conference, and the College of Science and Technology Research Day. During his tenure as a master's student, Kyle's thesis advisor was Dr. Abby Hare-Harris. Serving on his thesis committee were Dr. William Schwindinger, Dr. Surmacz and Ms.Marissa Mitchel, CCC-SLP, a speech language pathologist from ADMI. Kyle served as a graduate assistant in Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2 and tutored at ABLE, the Academic Biology Learning Environment, in Columbia Residence Hall. He is a member of Tri-Beta Biology Honor Society. Kyle served the department as a volunteer for Husky Decision Day and the Tri-Beta Northeast District 2 Convention. He shared his experiences as a graduate student as a panelist on the College of Science and Technology Pathways Webinar panel. Kyle will attend Rutgers University where he will be enrolled in the doctoral program in Genetics.