Welcome New Members to the CSD Faculty and Staff!

Please join us in a warm welcome to our new faculty and staff members!

Rebecca Alper, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Rebecca Alper, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Rebecca Alper, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Assistant Professor

Dr. Rebecca Alper is a speech-language pathologist and incoming assistant professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Alper leads the Language, Literacy, and Learning Lab, where she and her team conduct family-centered early intervention research.


Carlos Benítez-Barrera, Ph.D.
Carlos Benítez-Barrera, Ph.D.

Carlos Benítez-Barrera, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Carlos Benítez-Barrera is a passionate researcher on the area of auditory and language development. Carlos received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology in Spain. He developed his research career in the U.S. as a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University and as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders (University of Texas at Dallas). Now he joins the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at University of Wisconsin-Madison as an Assistant Professor to continue developing his research and share his expertise with students and faculty.


Haley Dresang, Ph.D.
Haley Dresang, Ph.D.

Haley Dresang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Haley Dresang investigates the neuroscience of language and neurological disorders that affect communication. Her research advances our understanding of the brain and how treatments can improve language following stroke, brain injury, and neurodegenerative conditions. Originally from Milwaukee, Dr. Dresang is a lifelong Badger fan and is thrilled to rejoin her undergraduate alma mater as a professor.


Bobby Gibbs, Ph.D.
Bobby Gibbs, Ph.D.

Bobby Gibbs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Bobby Gibbs is excited to join the Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is broadly interested in how the auditory system shifts the weighting of acoustic information in different masker environments when input is degraded (such as when listening through a cochlear implant). His passion for translating basic science to hearing technology improvements was uniquely shaped: through undergraduate training as a composer, a Ph.D. concentration in architectural acoustics, and postdoctoral work on acoustic predictors of speech intelligibility and temporal processing deficits in cochlear implant listeners.


Nike Gnanateja, Ph.D.
Nike Gnanateja, Ph.D.

Nike Gnanateja, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Nike Gnanateja is an auditory neuroscientist exploring cortical and sub-cortical encoding of speech sounds in individuals with typical and compromised auditory/cognitive/ language function. Dr. Gnanateja aims to translate his research into developing and validating methods for objective evaluation of speech perception benefit from hearing rehabilitation strategies.


Erik Jorgensen, Au.D, Ph.D.
Erik Jorgensen, Au.D, Ph.D.

Erik Jorgensen, Au.D, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Dr. Erik Jorgensen is an Iowa native and attended the University of Iowa for his Au.D. and Ph.D. His research is focused on understanding and improving interventions for people with hearing loss in real-world environments. He is thrilled to be joining the CSD department at UW Madison!


Dhatri Devaraju, Ph.D.
Dhatri Devaraju, Ph.D.

Dhatri Devaraju, Ph.D.
Lecturer/Researcher

Dr. Dhatri Devaraju’s research is focused on auditory and audio-visual speech perception in individuals who stutter in whom there is a breakdown in the speech perception-production link. She is interested in pursuing research to understand how presence of noise and other cognitive factors affect perceptual processes in individuals who stutter and neurotypical individuals.