2023: Zuilma Gabriela Sigurðardóttir
Zuilma Gabriela Sigurðardóttir was born in Mexico City but moved from there at age 10 and settled down in Iceland at age 11 with her Mexican mother and Icelandic step father. She finished her BA in psychology in 1985 at the University of Iceland, her MA in Behavior Analysis and Therapy in 1989 at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and her PhD in Psychology in 1992 at Northeastern University-Boston. She first became member of ABAI in 1987. She has worked on the dissemination of behavior analysis in Iceland and Europe for 30 years. First as therapist, consultant, and adjunct faculty at the University of Iceland, while also being an administrator and developer of services for the disabled in Reykjavík as well as running a small private practice. Then she became administrator and developer of psychological services for schools at the compulsory level for the City of Reykjavík. She entered academia full time in 1999 as assistant professor of behavior analysis in the psychology department of the University of Iceland. She became associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2018. She has taught behavior analysis at all levels, both required and elective courses that she established. She has guided and supervised approximately 190 students‘ research projects for thesis in behavior analysis at all levels, including the only PhD thesis in behavior analysis in Iceland so far. She has managed and coordinated graduate student practica in public schools for 23 years. She has aided Icelandic students to find programs of study in behavior analysis in the United States and Europe since 1998 and has guided them in the application process. She was recipient of the SABA international development grant in the year 2000 and set up a website with information about programs in behavior analysis in the United States and all kinds of practical information related to moving with a family to study abroad. She was department chair of the psychology department at the University of Iceland in 2003-2005. She was president of the European Association for Behavior Analysis in 2015-2017 and past-president in 2017-2020. Her research interests include the analysis of language acquisition from a stimulus equivalence paradigm and applied behavior analysis in various contexts. Her research has been published in JEAB, JABA, TAVB, but also in non-behavioral scientific journals, both national and international. She has served as associate editor of EJOBA and JOBE for many years and was on the review board of EJOBA for several years prior to becoming associate editor. She has reviewed manuscripts for other scientific journals, including JEAB, and for scientific journals in various other disciplines as well. She has served as reviewer of grant proposals for the Icelandic Research Council and other granting agencies. She was an exchange teacher at the University of Latvia with Erasmus fellowships in 2015-2019 and led the establishment of the Baltic Association for Behavior Analysis. She has continued teaching behavior analysis for Latvia through the internet during the pandemic. She aided in coordinating the first conference on behavior analysis in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2016. She has taught re-education courses for elementary school teachers, psychologists, administrators, and allied health professionals in Iceland and Latvia. She has also offered behavior management classes to parents and teachers in Iceland in Icelandic, English, and Spanish. She has had a small private practice where she provides services to families. She presently serves as board chairman of the newly established Applied Behavior Analysis masters program at the University of Iceland. She enjoys travel and culture and classical music concerts, family gatherings, and her dog. She has two adult children and a grand-daughter on the way.
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