Dr. Athamanah’s research interests include building effective peer mentoring programs for individuals with and without IDD in postsecondary and employment settings, exploring friendship development between individuals with and without IDD, and developing employer capacity for hiring and working with individuals with IDD in integrated employment settings.

Dr. Athamanah received her PhD in Special Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and worked as a speech-language pathologist for 10 years before pursuing her doctorate. Her research focuses on how peer-mediated interventions and peer mentoring programs impact the social language skills and attitudes of individuals with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in inclusive employment settings. After earning her PhD, Dr. Athamanah completed her postdoctoral work as an MSU-DOCTRID Hegarty Fellow co-located at Michigan State University and the National University of Ireland, Galway. During her time at MSU, Dr. Athamanah explored the impact of a postsecondary education peer mentoring program on the lives of the peer mentors. While at NUIG, she worked on exploring employers’ perspectives about working with and hiring individuals with IDD in the workforce as well as comorbidities such as gastrointestinal, behavior, sleep, and psychiatric issues in individuals with Down Syndrome. She also worked on building a client registry for a national service provider, the Daughters of Charity Disability Support Services, to assess their clients’ services, needs, and outcomes in Ireland.

New UMSL faculty member 2019.