Tobi A
- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at Indiana University at Bloomington

Expertise

Neurodevelopmental disorders (i.e. autism), disability studies, psycholinguistics, global mental health, psychology (developmental, clinical, and social), critical theories

Bio

Hello everyone! My name is Tobi and I am a clinical psychology PhD student at Indiana University Bloomington. Currently, my PhD explores the socio-cultural and cognitive factors of autism and how these factors have downstream effects on health and social equity for Black autistics. Outside of academics, you can find me playing the violin with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. I also enjoy reading novels on topics related to autistic experiences, critical theory, and works by Nigerian and Black authors.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Role of Stigma in Health and Social Outcomes of Autistic Individuals

In this project, we will explore the role stigma may play in health and/or social outcomes of autistic individuals. Much work in autism focuses a lot on the perspectives of researchers and/or caregivers and not much on the lived experiences of autistic individuals (although this is starting to gradually increase). Given that many autistic individuals report poorer healthcare outcomes, this project is interested in exploring the role stigma might play. This project can focus on either autistic children, adults, or transition youth depending on your interests. We can work together to determine the method of this work (i.e. literature review, survey/questionnaire, documentary, etc) depending on your skillset and interests.

Coding skills

Languages I know

Yoruba, Intermediate

Teaching experience

Behavioral Neuroscience Instructor and Resident Counselor • Designed and taught four sessions of an interactive and organized behavioral neuroscience curriculum to domestic and international high school students. • Led several sessions of dissections on sheep brain and cow eyes to help teach students about the nervous and visual systems. Introduction to Linguistics Workshop Leader • Coordinated and facilitated discussions between workshop students on linguistic topics such as syntax, morphology, and phonology. • Answered students’ questions about the course material and held extra help sessions for students if needed. Volunteer High School Debate Coach • Taught debaters how to incorporate critical scholarship such as critical race theory, politics, and afro-pessimism into debate arguments related to the high school debate topic of immigration through bi-weekly sessions. • Providing additional coaching support such as pre-round prep during national circuit debate tournaments.

Credentials

Work experience

Harvard University (2019 - 2021)

Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow

Indiana University Bloomington (2021 - Current)

PhD Student

National Institutes of Health (2018 - 2019)

IRTA and NAEP Fellow

Exploration Schools at Yale (2018 - 2018)

Behavioral Neuroscience Instructor and Residential Counselor (Summer)

Education

University of Rochester

BA Bachelor of Arts (2018)

Brain and Language Development (of Autism)

Indiana University at Bloomington

PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate

Clinical Psychology

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Tobi A - Research Program Mentor