Idaho State University Student Receives Prestigious American Cochlear Implant Alliance Scholarship

The American Cochlear Implant Alliance (ACI Alliance) recently announced that Shannon Roybal, a student in the speech-language pathology master's program, is among those receiving student scholarship awards. The scholarships will help provide travel and accommodations for a national conference to be held in Dallas, TX this summer, titled Cochlear Implants in Children and Adults.

Scholarship applications were open to full-time students, fellows and postdoctoral scholars who have a clinical or research interest in cochlear implants and applicants were reviewed by a committee of professionals across the hearing health spectrum.  A total of 53 students submitted scholarship applications spanning the range of clinicians and scientists that comprise the ACI Alliance community. 

The 22 applicants chosen for this prestigious award represent a diverse field of individuals from 20 different institutions of higher learning across the country enrolled in audiology and speech-language pathology, deaf education, and Ph.D. and medical programs as well as post-doctoral candidates.   

Organizers say student participation is a critical component in increasing clinical and research involvement in CI. ACI Alliance is confident this year’s scholarship recipients will contribute importantly to our mission of expanding access to cochlear implants. 

“We are so proud of Shannon’s accomplishments and efforts in her journey to become a highly qualified speech-language pathologist able to serve children who are Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing,” says Kristina Blaiser, professor and director of the ISU HATCH lab. “Organizations like ACI Alliance are part of a multidisciplinary group working to champion students in the fields where there are significant shortages and attending the conference is a valuable opportunity to support specialization and collaboration.”