Rebecca Sandak


	Rebecca Sandak
		We lost our dear friend and colleague Rebecca Sandak and her husband Sam Blyakher to a tragic car accident on October 9, 2006. Rebecca and Sam are survived by their daughter Nava Rose Blyakher. Rebecca's memory lives on through her important research in reading and reading disability.
	April 11, 1974 - October 9, 2006 Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories Education B.A., Psychology, Binghamton University, SUNY, 1996 M.S., Cognitive Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 1998 Ph.D., Cognitive Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 2001 Research Interests Rebecca's research was focused on understanding the cognitive processes underlying skilled and impaired reading, reading acquisition, and successful reading instruction and remediation. She extended this work to the study of the neurobiology of reading processes and reading disability using functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) technology. Representative Publications Sandak, R., Mencl, W. E., Frost, S. J., Rueckl, J. G., Katz, L., Moore, D., Mason, S. M., Fulbright, R. K., Constable, R. T., Pugh, K. R. (2004). The neurobiology of adaptive learning in reading: A contrast of different training conditions. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 4, 67-88. Sandak, R., Mencl, W. E., Frost, S. J., Mason, S. A., and Pugh, K. R. (2004). The neurobiological basis of skilled and impaired reading: Recent findings and new directions. In R. Sandak & R. A. Poldrack (Eds.), Scientific Studies of Reading: Special Issue on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Reading, 8, 273-292. Poldrack, R. A., & Sandak, R. (2004). The cognitive neuroscience of reading: Introduction to the special issue. In R. Sandak & R. A. Poldrack (Eds.), Scientific Studies of Reading: Special Issue on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Reading, 8, 199-202. McCandliss, B., Beck, I. L., Sandak, R., & Perfetti, C. (2003). Focusing attention on decoding for children with poor reading skills: A study of the word building intervention. Scientific Studies of Reading, 7, 75-104. Perfetti, C. A., & Sandak, R. (2001). Literacy Education. In N. J. Smelser, & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Pergamon, Oxford. Sandak, R., & Fiez, J. A. (2000). Stuttering: A view from neuroimaging. The Lancet, 356, 445-446. Perfetti, C. A., & Sandak, R. (2000). Reading optimally builds on spoken language: Implications for deaf literacy. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 5(1), 31-50. curriculum vita