Faculty & Staff

Brandon Budzisch is a 2nd year graduate student in the School Psychology program at the University of South Florida. Brandon is from Fort Myers Beach, FL and completed his undergraduate degree at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. During his undergrad, Brandon aided in research with early identification of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and discovered a love for working with children whilst working as an after-school counselor at an Elementary School. After graduating from FSU, Brandon worked as a 1st grade teaching assistant before attending USF. Brandon currently assists Dr. Trina Spencer and Dr. Matthew Foster with their work. Brandon loves going to the beach, heading to the gym and playing with his cat Stormy.

Mr. Erazo is a graduate research associate at the Rightpath Research and Innovation Center and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Behavioral and Community Sciences. Mr. Erazo is multilingual and specializes in bilingualism and biliteracy. He earned his master's degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Mr. Erazo is Dr. Jason Anthony's doctoral student and served as his research assistant while employed at the University of Texas Health Science Center. He has worked on multiple grants, including SRCBM, TX-KEA, and SRCBM STEM.

Anthony, J. L., Chen, Y.-J. I., Williams, J. M., Cen, W., & Erazo, N. A. (2020). U.S. children’s
understanding of the English alphabet: Its acquisition, conceptualization, and measurement. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000534

Neumann, M. M., Anthony, J. L., Erazo, N. A., & Neumann, D. L. (2019). Assessment and technology: Mapping future directions in the early childhood classroom. Frontiers in Education, 4, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00116

Deeika is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Business Analytics and Information Systems from Muma College of Business at USF. She has done her Bachelors in Computer Science and has around 2 years of technical experience in India.

She is passionate about learning and likes to challenge herself. She has been at Rightpath for around one and half year. She is working on multiple STEM and Behavioral Research projects by applying her technical expertise and making an impact is what makes her excited to be at Rightpath. In her free time, she loves reading, travelling and binge watching Disney.

Maria was born and raised in Venezuela and has lived in Colombia and Spain. She earned her Bachelor´s Degree on Mass Communication. Currently she is working on her my Master of Arts in Spanish and Master of Science in Management at USF.

For the past two years, she has been teaching Spanish level I and II, and tutoring Spanish students.

Ms. Tolentino received her undergraduate degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Florida, just a 40-minute drive from her hometown of Chiefland, FL. She is in her final year of the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program and is completing her master’s thesis under the guidance of Dr. Trina Spencer. During her time as USF, Ms. Tolentino has learned so much from a broad span of clinical and academic opportunities offered by her graduate program. Her diverse clinical interests extend across the lifespan - anything from pediatric feeding and swallowing to neurogenic communication disorders, she enjoys it all! Upon graduating, she hopes to complete her clinical fellowship in either a school or medical setting.

Mr. Roman is a first year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at USF. He is from Jacksonville, Florida where he received his undergraduate degree in Psychology and minor in Philosophy from the University of North Florida. De'Vohn has experience in scoring psychodiagnostic assessments and has shadowed psychologists during IQ, Autism, and ADHD assessments. Additionally, he has  experience engaging in and presenting research and working with young children diagnosed with autism in a clinical setting using ABA.

Renee Sandberg is a first year Ed.S. student in School Psychology. She earned a bachelors degree in Early Childhood Elementary Education with a minor in Spanish from Kennesaw State University.  Renee spent her past three years as a kindergarten teacher and registered behavior technician. Her research interests are academic assessments and interventions, Multi-Tiered System of Supports, applied behavior analysis, and language acquisition. Although Renee loved her 11 years spent living in Georgia, she is excited to spend her time in Tampa and appreciates all the nature Florida has to offer! In her free time, she likes to spend time outdoors, travel, and spend time with loved ones.

Carla Zayas-Santiago is a 2nd-year student at the Technology in Education and Second Language Acquisition Ph.D. program at USF. She is originally from Puerto Rico and is fluent in English and Spanish. Ms. Zayas-Santiago holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities with a concentration in Latin American Studies and an M.A. in Spanish Literature from the University of South Florida. Her research interests include bilingual education, cross-linguistic transferability, and Latinx literature as a cultural artifact for student empowerment and language justice. Ms. Zayas-Santiago has previously worked in bilingual education, teaching Spanish to native and non-native Spanish speakers.

Johan John Joji is an undergraduate student originally from Kerala, India, pursuing his Bachelor's in Computer Science. He is passionate about the theoretical side involved in Computer Science and loves to troubleshoot problems. His interests involve automation and web development. In his free time, he likes to spend time gaming, working out, and with loved ones.

Linna Kuang is a student research assistant at the Rightpath Research and Innovation Center. She is a second-year undergraduate student from Fairfax, Virginia, and pursuing her bachelor's degree of public health in University of South Florida. She is a trilingual speaker and is able to communicate fluently in English. Chinese and Japanese. She is on the pre-med track and is passionate about maternal health study and early childhood research. She has experience in working with intellectual disability children in a non-profit organization and participate in research about secondary-data analysis of National Survey of Children's Health. During her spare time, she likes to read, travel, and play piano.