G. Nicole Davis, Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science
Vanderbilt University
1161 21st Avenue South
MCN AA-1105
Nashville, TN, 37232-2310
(615) 969-4811
Nikki.Davis@Vanderbilt.Edu
EDUCATION
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Ph.D., Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, 2006
Ph.D., Neuroscience, 2006
M.A., Speech Science, 2005
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas (Magna Cum Laude)
B.A., Psychology; Minor in Spanish, graduated with honors, 1998
EXPERIENCE
1) Research Experience
Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, Tennessee
Research Postdoctoral Trainee in Functional and Structural Neuroimaging
September 2008 – present
Research Advisors: Drs. John Gore and Adam Anderson
Research Interest: Use of functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the
structural and functional correlates of developmental disabilities in children.
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, Nashville, Tennessee
Research Postdoctoral Trainee in the Biobehavioral Interventions Training Program (BITP)
September 2006 – August 2008
Research Advisors: Drs. Donald Compton and Adam Anderson
Research Interest: Cross-disciplinary research in clinical and neuroimaging laboratories
investigating the causes and best interventions for children with developmental disabilities.
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Pauline Price Doctoral Fellow, 2003-2006
Worked as a clinician and researcher in an inclusive preschool classroom under the
supervision of Dr. Lynn Snyder.
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Doctoral Research Assistant, Colorado Literacy Tutor, 2002-2003
Under the supervision of Drs. Elaine Kintsch and Donna Caccamise, I assisted with the
development and implementation of Summary Street, a computerized summarization
program for grade school children.
Doctoral Research Assistant, NSF-ITR Reading Tutor Program, 2001-2002
Under the supervision of Drs. Barbara Wise and Lynn Snyder, I assisted in the creation and
administration of computerized assessments of phonological awareness for children in
elementary school.
Professional Research Assistant, Center for Prosocial Communities, 2000-2001
Under the supervision of Dr. Elaine Blechman, I administered psychological assessments to
children in the Boulder Probation and Diversion programs.
Professional Research Assistant, Reading Orthographic Speech Segmentation, 1998-2000
Under the supervision of Drs. Richard Olson and Barbara Wise, I worked as a research
clinician running small reading intervention groups for children in the 2nd –4th grade.
2) Related Professional Experience
Attended intensive FSL and Freesurfer training at UT-Houston, April 2009.
Attended intensive fMRI training at MGH/Harvard, October 2007.
Ran fMRI sessions on attendees at a week long camp at Vanderbilt University for children
with Prader-Williams Syndrome, June 2007.
Worked as a tutor for children diagnosed with reading disabilities using Linguistic
Remedies, a guided-discovery approach to language training, 1999-2006.
Administered kindergarten screenings in four schools in Boulder Valley School District.
Responsibilities included supervision of three Master’s level students, spring 2001.
GRANTS
Kennedy Center Conference Award, 2008
Vanderbilt University Hobbs Discovery Award, 2007 – 2008
Title: Response to Reading Instruction: Structural and Functional Imaging Pilot Study
Travel Grant from CU-Boulder, 2006
Beverely Sears Graduate Student Grant, 2006
San Marcos Civic Foundation Grant for San Marcos Speaker Series, 2001 and 2003
Funds for five recognized experts to present on different topics related to dyslexia.
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AWARDS AND HONORS
Attended Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuro-imaging of Development, Paris, France, March
2007 (I was one of two researchers from America chosen for this international award).
Received award from the International Dyslexia Association to attend the Annual International
Dyslexia Association conference, 2003, 2004
Rocky Mountain Branch Delegate at International Dyslexia Association Conference, 2004, 2005
Magna Cum Laude, Texas A&M University, 1998
Phi Beta Kappa – Texas A&M University, 1998
Psi Chi – Texas A&M University, 1997
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
International Dyslexia Association, 1998 – present
Served as Board Member on the Rocky Mountain Branch, 2003-2006
Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, 2001 - present
Academy Speech-Language Hearing Association, 2001 - present
PUBLICATIONS
1) Articles
Davis, N., Barquero, L., Compton, D., Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Gore, J.C., & Anderson, A.W. (In
Press) Functional Correlates of Children’s Responsiveness to Intervention. Developmental
Neuropsychology.
Davis, N., Cannistraci, C.J., Rogers, B.P., Gatenby, J.C., Fuchs, L.S., Anderson, A.W., & Gore,
J.C. (2009). Imaging of the Cerebral Networks in Mathematical Processing in a Group of
Children with High Math Ability. Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
Davis, N., Cannistraci, C.J., Rogers, B.P., Gatenby, J.C., Fuchs, L.S., Anderson, A.W., & Gore,
J.C. (2009). Children at-risk for mathematical disability: A functional imaging study of
simple arithmetic skill. Neuropsychologia, 47(12), 2470-2479.
Davis, N. & Davis, G. (2009, Summer). Five Life Lessons of A Successful Dyslexic. Discovery, 9.
Davis, G.N. & Compton, D. (2008) Falling Through the Cracks: Children who are Exceptions to
the RTI Identification Process. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 15: pgs. 41-45.
Fuchs, D., Compton, D. L., Fuchs, L. S., Bryant, J. D., & Davis G. N. (2008). Making “secondary
intervention” work in a three-tier responsiveness-to-intervention model: Findings from the
first-grade longitudinal reading study at the National Research Center on Learning
Disabilities. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 21, 413-436.
Han Z, Fuchs L, Davis N, Cannistraci CJ, Anderson AW, Gore JC, Dawant BM. (2008). Analysis
of Anatomic Variability in Children with Low Mathematical Skills. Proceedings of SPIE,
Medical Imaging: Physiology, Function, and Structures from Medical Images, Volume 6916,
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69160S-69160S-8.
Davis, G.N., Lindo, E.J., Compton, D. (2007) Children at Risk for Reading Failure: Constructing
an Early Screening Measure. Teaching Exceptional Children, 39, 32-39.
2) Standardized Tests
Riccio, C.A., Imhoff, B., Hasbrouck, J.E., & Davis, G.N. (2004). Test of Phonological Awareness in
Spanish. Pro-Ed.
MANUSCRIPTS SUBMITTED or IN PROGRESS
Davis, N., Cannistraci, C.J., Rogers, B.P., Gatenby, J.C., Fuchs, L.S., Anderson, A.W., & Gore,
J.C. (in progress) Comparison of functional activity on calculation tasks in children at-risk for
mathematical
disability with differing reading abililties. Manuscript under review at Neuropsychology.
Davis, N., Fan, Q., Compton, D. L., Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Cutting, L.E., Gore, J. & Anderson,
A.W. (submitted) Influences of Neural Pathway Integrity in Children’s Response to Reading
Instruction. Brain Connectivity Analysis Special Issue of Frontiers in Systems
Neuroscience
BOOK CHAPTERS
Compton, D., Elleman, A., Olinghouse, N., Lawrence, J., Bigelow, E., Gilbert, J., & Davis, N.
(2009). The Influence of In-Text Instruction on Declarative Knowledge and
Vocabulary Learning in Struggling Readers: How IQ Confounds the Story. In R. Wagner
(Ed.) Beyond Decoding: The Behavioral and Biological Foundations of Reading Comprehension.
PRESENTATIONS
1) Professional Conferences
Sivapurapu-Pisupati, A., Stewart, R. A., Rimrodt, S. L., Eason, S. H., Young, K. M., Goldberg, L.
F., Davis, N. Pugh, K. R., Cutting, L. E. (2010, July). fMRI correlates of a dynamic measure of
word learning in children. Poster session to be presented at the annual meeting of the Society
for the Scientific Study of Reading, Berlin, Germany.
Davis, N., Fan, Q., Barquero, L., Compton, D., & Anderson, A. (2010, Feb.). The Relationship
between White Matter Connectivity and Children’s Response to Reading Intervention.
Interactive paper presentedat the Pacific Coast Research Conference, Coronado Bay, CA.
Davis, N., Barquero, L., & Compton, D. What can the brain tell us about the response to
intervention approach? Interactive paper presented at the International Dyslexia
Association, Orlando, FL, October 2009.
Davis, N., Barquero, L., Juranek, J., Fan, Q., Zhang, W., Compton, D., & Anderson, A. Is there a
connection between children’s brain structure and their responsiveness to intervention?
Interactive paper presented at the Society for Scientific Study of Reading, Boston, MA,
June 2009.
Barquero, L., Davis, N., Compton, D., & Anderson, A. Responsiveness to reading intervention:
An fMRI study. Interactive paper presented at the Society for Scientific Study of Reading,
Boston, MA, June 2009.
Davis, N., Cannistraci, C.J., Fuchs, L., Rogers, B.P., Schrader, W., Anderson, A., Gatenby, C., &
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Gore, J. An fMRI study of Mathematical Ability in Children . Interactive paper presented at
the International Neuropsychological Society, Atlanta, GA, February 2009.
Davis, N., Barquero, L., Compton, D., Gore, J., & Anderson, A. An fMRI study of the Neural
Correlates of Children’s Response to Reading Intervention. Interactive paper presented
at the Pacific Coast Research Conference, Coronado Bay, CA., February 2009.
Davis, G. & Davis, N. Five Life Lessons from a Successful Individual with Dyslexia. Paper
presented at the International Dyslexia Association Annual Conference, Seattle, W.A.,
October 2008.
Davis, N., & Compton, D. Latent Transition Modeling of Students with Early and
Late-Emerging Reading Disability. In N. K. Lesaux (chair) , Investigating Heterogeneity
in Reading Difficulties From Early Childhood through Adolescence. Symposium conducted
at the Society for Scientific Study of Reading, Ashville, N.C., July 2008.
Han, Fuchs, L., Davis, N., Cannistraci, C.J., Anderson, A., Gore, J., & Dawant. Deformation
based morphometry of brain structure in children with difficulties in mathematics.
Interactive paper presented at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
conference, May 2008.
Davis, N., Cannistraci, C.J., Fuchs, L., Rogers, B.P.,Schrader, W., Anderson, A., Gatenby, C., &
Gore, J. An fMRI study of the Neural Correlates for Exact and Approximate Calculations in
Children. Interactive paper presented at the International Neuropsychological Association,
Waikoloa, Hawaii, February 2008.
Davis, N., Cannistraci, C.J., Lorang, C., Fuchs, L., Rogers, B.P., Schrader, W., Anderson, A., &
Gore, J. (2008, February). Correlated brain tissue structure and function in mathematical
processing. In L. Ewing-Cobbs, Cognitive and Neuroimaging Correlates of Fact Retrieval,
Calculation, and Estimation in Children with Learning Disabilities. Symposium conducted at
the International Neuropsychological Association, Waikoloa, Hawaii.
Han, Fuchs, Davis, Cannistraci, Anderson, Gore, & Dawant. Analysis of Anatomic
Variability in Children with Low Mathematical Skills. Paper presented at the SPIE
Symposium on Medical Imaging, February 2008.
Davis, N., Cannistraci, C., Lorang, C., Fuchs, L., Rogers, B.P., Schrader, W., Anderson, A., &
Gore, J. Brain structure and function correlates of children's mathematical processing.
Interactive paper presented at the Kennedy Center Science Day, November 2007.
Davis, N., Lorang, C., Gore, J., Fuchs, L., Anderson, A., Cannistraci, C., & Compton, D. An
Investigation of Neuronal Connectivity in Reading and Math Processing. Interactive
paper presented at the International Dyslexia Association, November 2007.
Davis, N., Lorang, C., Gore, J., Fuchs, L., Anderson, A., Cannistraci, C., & Compton, D. An
Investigation of the Effects of Neural Connectivity on Math and Reading Ability.
Interactive paper presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, July 2007.
Lorang, C. Arlinghaus, L., Davis, N., Gore, J.C., & Anderson, A.W. Using Diffusion Tensor
Imaging to Assess White Matter Integrity in Subjects with Math Difficulties. Interactive
paper presented at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine conference,
May 2007.
Davis, G.N Investigation of Math Difficulties with Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Paper presented
at the Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuro-imaging of Development, Paris France, March 2007.
Davis, N. Phonological Sensitivity in Preschool Age Children. Interactive paper presented at
the American Speech-Language Hearing Association conference, November 2006.
Davis, N. Extrinsic and Intrinsic Causes of Reading Disabilities. Paper presented at the Courage
to Risk conference, February 12, 2006.
Davis, N. & Olson, R. K. Preschoolers’ Phonological Awareness: An Investigation of the
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Nonword Repetition Task. Interactive paper presented at the American Speech-Language
Hearing Association conference, San Diego, CA., November 19, 2005.
Davis N., Snyder, L., Wise, B., Olson, R. K., Wiley, E. & Finan, D. Evaluating Phonological
Sensitivity in Preschoolers – Pilot Study of Methodology. Interactive paper presented at the
International Dyslexia Association conference, November 2005
Davis. N., Snyder, L., & Wiley, E. Computerized Measure of Phonological Sensitivity in
Preschool Age Children – Preliminary Results. Interactive paper presented at the Coleman
Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, October 2005.
Davis N., & Thrasher, A. Literacy Trainings – Influences on Practitioners’ Beliefs and Practices.
Interactive Paper presented at the Courage to Risk conference, February 2005.
Caccamise, D., Davis, N., Franke, M., Johnson, N., & Kintsch, E. Using LSA in Classroom:
Implementing Summary Street in Grades 6-12. Interactive paper presented at the Society for
Scientific Study of Reading conference, July 2003.
Cole, R., Schwartz, S., Corson, L., Corson, K., Davis, N., Doxas, I., Gavin, W., Jie, Y., Jiying,
M., Ngampatipatpong, N., Snyder, L., Tuantranont, J., Wade-Stein, D., & Wise, B. Teaching
Reading to Children with Learning and Cognitive Disabilities using Intelligent Animated
Characters. Interactive paper presented at the Annual Coleman Institute for Cognitive
Disabilities, October 2001.
2) Invited Talks
Davis, N. Neuroimaging correlates of simple arithmetic processing in children. Presentation at
Haskins Laboratory at Yale University, October 2008.
Davis, N. Calculating Differences in the Brain of Children: What is >, <, or = and Where?
Invited presentation at the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, February
2008.
Davis, G. & Davis, N. Five Life Lessons from a Successful Individual with Dyslexia. Invited
presentation at the Southwestern Branch International Dyslexia Association Annual
Conference Reading in the Rockies, February 2008.
Davis, N. Phonological Sensitivity in Preschool Age Children. Invited presentation at the
Dallas, Texas Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, February 2007.
Davis, N. Learning Disabilities: Defining and Discussing. Invited presentation to the Boulder
Valley School District’s Department of Special Education Parent Professional Partnership,
December 2005.
UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department, University of Colorado-Boulder, 2003
Co-Instructor for upper division course, Language and Learning Disabilities, with 30 students.
Lectured, recruited guest speakers, advised students, and oversaw group projects.
Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Department, University of Colorado-Boulder, 2002
Teaching Assistant for undergraduate course, Language Development, with 40 students. Led
review sessions to clarify basic language development principles, and I graded assignments.
CURRENT UNIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
VUIIS Strategic Plan in Education and Teaching Committee, 2008
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Founding member of Vanderbilt Neuroscience Postdoctoral Association, 2007 - present
Mentor graduate level students interested in Neuroscience or Imaging Sciences, 2007-present
Vanderbilt Institute Research Board (IRB) E-Panel, 2007 - present
The IRB requests input from a select set of researchers to optimize the research process.
Scientific Outreach to Area Schools, 2007 - present
Members of VUIIS provide free lectures on imaging sciences to area highschools.
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