Daniel Kwak

Psychology

Assistant Professor of Psychology

157 Center for Sciences & Pharmacy

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship at Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
PhD in Applied Behavior Analysis at University of South Florida
MS in Behavioral Psychology at Pepperdine University
MA in Education at University of California, Riverside
BA in Psychology at University of California, San Diego

Research Interests

Training change agents (e.g., behavior analysts, caregivers, teachers) to implement behavior analytic assessments/treatments with a focus on adopting emerging practices (e.g., culturally responsive care, trauma-informed care, compassionate care).

Strengthening supervisory practices with a focus on improving the adherence to and feasibility of incorporating best practices and on improving the effects of supervision (e.g., knowledge- or performance-based competency, ethical skills, interpersonal skills).

Refining assessment and treatment of interfering behaviors as well as a focus on improving wide range of outcome variables (e.g., choice, autonomy, social validity, quality of life, affect) that impact the clients we serve.

Improving treatment generalization of intervention effects—ensuring that improvements in behavioral outcomes are not restricted to specified environments but are generalized across complex but relevant environments.

For Applicants

I will be admitting students for Fall 2026. Please reach out to me in advance (before application submission) if you plan to include me as a potential advisor.

For applicants for the PhD program, it would be ideal if your research interests align with the first three areas mentioned above and if you will likely pursue a dissertation and/or literature review in those areas.

For applicants for the MS program, I am more flexible with the choice of topics as long as your focus is on applied research and related to your work experience/clinical role. Especially for applicants for the MS program, I would encourage you to carefully consider expressing interest in "emerging practices" like culturally responsive care. In my opinion, students pursuing these research topics should already have a range of prerequisite knowledge and skills (e.g., foundation in the principles of behavior, familiarity with the literature in the specified areas and understanding of what specific research questions are of interest). If you are fairly new to the field, my opinion is that pursuing another research topic will likely be more fitting.

Selected Publications

Livingston, C. P., Loder-Lafferty, B. H., Tran, J. P., Melanson, I. J., Cengher, M., & Kwak, D. (in press). Evaluation of a sequential extinction procedure on preference for communication modalities during functional communication training. Behavioral Interventions.

Ayres, R., Blair, K. C., & Kwak, D. (2025). Coaching school-based professionals to facilitate implementation of Prevent-Teach-Reinforce with teachers for students with externalizing behavior. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions. Advance online publication.

Kwak, D., Bell, M. C., Blair, K. C., & Bloom, S. E. (2025). Cultural responsiveness in assessment, implementer training, and intervention in school, home, and community settings: A systematic review. Journal of Behavioral Education, 34(3), 526–573.

Livingston, C. P., DeBrine, J. E., Melanson, I. J., Kwak, D., & Tomasi, B. (2025). Comparison of caregivers’ and children’s preference for mand topography during functional communication training. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 37(3), 429–447.

Beaulieu, L., Kwak, D., Jimenez-Gomez, C., & Morgan, G. (2024). Implementing culturally responsive and trauma-informed practices with checklists and goal setting. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 57(4), 821–839.

Kwak, D., Blair, K. C., & Russo, D. (2024). Development of the Values-Centered Assessment Tool (VCAT) to inform culturally responsive behavioral services. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 17(4), 977–995.

Courses Taught