Alumni@Work

Kyle received his J.D. from UT-Austin in 2020. He is currently working as a managing member at Scholati LLC, where he oversees development of revolutionary learning application that promises to greatly enhance students’ learning velocity.

Lisa Sigafoos received her Ph.D. in special education from UT-Austin in 2018. She is currently working as an assistant professor of practice and undergraduate coordinator for special education at UT-Austin. Lisa teaches undergraduate courses related to disabilities and special education preparation and oversees the program completion of undergraduate students seeking special education certification. She also works with programs for adults with intellectual and development disabilities, serves as co-faculty advisor for Longhorn Best Buddies, and is on the Austin area board for Special Olympics.

UT Austin alumna, Maliki “Kiki” Ghossainy, PhD, discusses her first job after her PhD program, the most interesting project she has worked on, and the strategy that was most effective in helping her to transition from PhD to statistical consulting.

Maliki Eyvonne Ghossainy is a psychological scientist and statistician. In 2016, she completed her Ph.D in Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research integrates social, cognitive, cultural, and biological mechanisms into a model of belief formation across the early childhood years. Using mixed methods designs, Maliki studies the sophisticated ways in which children judiciously evaluate different sources of information. Maliki’s research emphasizes the importance of studying children’s cognition in context, and her recent studies investigate the role of linguistic input in the epistemic judgements of multilingual children.

While working on her doctoral degree, Maliki also completed an M.S. in Statistics and was one of five students to be selected as a Graduate Fellow in Statistics at UT Austin in 2014. In addition to being an experienced researcher, Maliki is also an active statistical consultant and has worked with clients from a variety of fields (e.g., academic and non-academic settings, private and public sectors) to design surveys, analyze data, offer technical trainings, and report findings to relevant stakeholders. Maliki also teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in Developmental Psychology, Research Design, and Statistical Methods for social sciences. Presently, Maliki is a Senior Research Scientist at Boston University.

Frank Goodyear received his PhD from UT-Austin in 1998. He is currently working as the co-director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine, one of the oldest academic museums in the nation. Together with Anne Collins Goodyear, he is responsible for managing a staff of 15 museum professionals, an Advisory Council with 28 members, and a program of diverse exhibitions, public programs, and educational outreach across campus and the wider community. He also continues to curate exhibitions and to publish scholarly articles and catalogues related to museum projects.

Mx. Shane Whalley received hir master’s degree in Social Work from The University of Texas School of Social work in 2003. Shane is the founder of Daring Dialogues Consulting. Ze is a deeply relational and playful genderqueer facilitative educator, who has been facilitating workshops and conversations on issues faced by the LGBTQIA communities, cultural humility and responsiveness and social justice frameworks for over 20 years. Hir knowledge comes from my lived experience as a now elder within the genderqueer and queer communities. Shane has also been the Community Coordinator for the Office of Equity at Austin Independent School District, the Education Coordinator for the Gender and Sexuality Center at The University of Texas at Austin and has worked at several mental health nonprofits in Austin. Shane enjoys engaging in conversations around the complexities of “all the things” whether as a mentor, consultant or educator.