Meet the Research Team

Robin McWilliam, Ph.D.
Director of the Siskin Center for Child and Family Research
The Siskin Endowed Chair of Research in Early Childhood Education, Development and Intervention

Dr. McWilliam is one of the nation’s leaders in recommended practices in early intervention and early childhood special education. He has traveled to 48 states to help improve policies and services for young children with disabilities and their families. Components of his model for home- and community-based services, Routines-Based Early Intervention, have been adopted by numerous states and local programs, and his Engagement Classroom Model, based on research conducted with Amy Casey, is an evidence-based model for effective classroom practices. Dr. McWilliam has published six books and many scholarly articles. He runs the Routines-Based Interview Certification Institute every year. At Siskin Children’s Institute, a nonprofit organization in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Dr. McWilliam is the Director of the Center for Child and Family Research and the Siskin Endowed Chair of Research in Early Childhood Education, Intervention, and Development. He also has an appointment as Professor of Education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Earlier positions included Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Senior Investigator at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center. Most important, Dr. McWilliam is a husband, father, and grandfather. View Dr. McWilliam's vita.

Tom Buggey, Ph.D.
Siskin Endowed Chair of Excellence in Early Childhood Special Education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Arriving in 2007, Dr. Buggey became the Institute’s first researcher on staff. As one of the world's leading researchers in a specific intervention for children with autism — video self-modeling — he serves as the Siskin Endowed Chair of Excellence in Early Childhood Special Education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. In addition to conducting research at the Institute, Dr. Buggey also teaches courses as a faculty member in UTC’s College of Health, Education and Professional Studies. Before moving to Chattanooga, he was a professor at the University of Memphis for 14 years serving as the project director of RISE, Make a Difference and Project Memphis. For the past six years, Dr. Buggey has worked as a consultant on the School Improvement Grant with the state Department of Education, which has been spearheading the Response to Intervention initiative in Tennessee. He received his Ph.D. in Early Intervention from Pennsylvania State University. View Dr. Buggey's vita.

Amy Casey, Ph.D., BCBA
Research Scientist

Dr. Casey is the Institute’s first Research Scientist, joining the Institute in October 2008. She completed her doctoral work at Vanderbilt University in 2008, studying early childhood special education. Her areas of interest include children’s engagement, incidental teaching, and performance feedback to change teachers’ behavior. Dr. Casey is the newsletter editor for CEC's Division for Research and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Special Education. As a doctoral student, she co-authored research articles in prominent journals, co-authored a book about child engagement, received a Head Start Graduate Student Research Grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and served as a student representative on the executive board of CEC's Division for Research. These activities were accomplished while completing a pre-doctoral traineeship in behavioral research and developmental disabilities funded by an NIH National Research Scientist Award. In addition to completing the doctoral program, Dr. Casey also completed the behavior analysis certification program and is credentialed as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. View Dr. Casey's vita.