Carol McDonald Connor, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a Chancellor’s Professor in Education at University of California, Irvine. Her research investigates individual child differences and the links between children’s language and literacy development with the goal of illuminating reasons for the perplexing difficulties children who are atypical and diverse learners, including children with dyslexia, have developing basic and advanced literacy skills. Most recently, her research interests have focused multi-tiered systems of support, response to intervention (RTI), and on how to individualize students’ Tier 1 learning opportunities in the classroom – from preschool through fifth grade. She develops technology and interventions to improve teacher efficacy and students’ literacy, math, and science outcomes. Awarded the PECASE in 2008, she is also a fellow of AERA and APA. Currently, she is the principal investigator for studies funded by the US Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, including the Early Learning Research Network, United2Read, and the FCRR Learning Disabilities Research Center.