Sam Odom
Director, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Research Interests: Early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder; preschool inclusion; research methodology and evidence-based practices; peer relationships; children’s social competence; school readiness; international approaches to early intervention.

Dr. Odom was involved in the effort to establish a Ph.D. program in early childhood, literacy and families at UNC.  He holds a joint appointment as Professor in the School of Education and Director of the Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Founded in 1966, FPG is one of the nation's oldest and largest multidisciplinary institutes for the study of young children and their families. The Institute's mission is to cultivate and share knowledge to enhance child development and family well being.

Barbara Alexander Pan
Research Associate
Harvard Graduate School of Education

Research Interests: first- and second-language and literacy acquisition in the broader context of children's social and cognitive development.

Dr. Pan serves as a Co-Principal Investigator for HGSE-Windham County, VT Early Head Start Research Partnership, one of 15 sites involved in the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. She is also a Principal Investigator for the initiative funded by the administration for children, youth and families/Head Start Bureau to develop measure for tracking bilingual children’s early language development.

Sonia Plaza
Executive Director,
El Centro Comunal Borincano Day Care Center

Sonia Plaza began working with El Centro Comunal Borincano Day Care Center in high school and continued this commitment by having her children and other family members attend the program. Ms. Plaza also served on the Board of Directors. She believes that the children of Camden deserve the best society can offer. Ms. Plaza’s belief has led her to embark on a project to construct a new state-of-the art facility for the children and families of El Centro. Currently, El Centro operates two program sites, which serve 119 children.