Association for Behavior Analysis International

No one person has achieved success on their own. Mentorship can be the cornerstone of success by enhancing professional development and ultimately career satisfaction. The role of mentorship for students has been instrumental in the growth of the field of behavior analysis. The field of behavior analysis has also grown exponentially in the past two decades (Carr & Nosik, 2017). Despite this rapid expansion, identification of a mentor can be a daunting and difficult task. This difficulty can be compounded by factors such as age, sex, gender identity, race, and ethnicity. Invited panelists include strong female mentors from three unique educational institutions. The panel will consider three key factors (1) what to account for when mentoring students, (2) how students can seek out quality mentorship, and (3) how gender may have an impact on an individual’s trajectory in the field. Panelists will discuss their own journey as a mentee and a mentor and will address questions from the audience. The panel is a must attend event for any level student, educational professional, or supervisor.

Making the decision to go back to get your Ph.D. is a huge, life-altering decision! You are committing yourself to more student loan debt, not going out and going to bed early! The reasons are endless to receiving your Ph.D. but so are the hurdles. You could be older now with a family, you want to change how behavior analysis is perceived by some, or you have your eye on a promotion. We will break down some of what we think are the critical features of surviving your Ph.D. program: (1) pro-social behavior will be examined as a key component to develop with your cohort; (2) how you organize your time, how you use your dissertation chair, and making time for what is important to you will also be addressed; (3) lastly, we will discuss how, as a field, we are not inclusive of what we fight for every day, and how we begin to incorporate more kindness into behavior analysis.

This panel, presented as part of the ABAI Professional Development Series, explores novel applications of behavior analysis and multidisciplinary approaches to data science. Data science is a field that relies on scientific methods to understand and analyze information using data. Behavior analysts can leverage data science tools and techniques to strengthen analyses, more accurately describe and predict behavior, measure intervention effects, manage large data sets, and improve decision making. Data science has immediate and direct implications for practitioners and researchers conducting applied, translational, and experimental analyses. For those who have not received formal training, these topics can be intimidating. The goal of this panel is to increase accessibility by providing the audience with basic information about what data science is as well as an opportunity to ask questions to seasoned scientists. Behavior analysts, students, practitioners, and researchers interested in learning more about coding, machine learning, and/or managing large data sets are invited to come to this informational question and answer session!