Alan Cobo-Lewis

In September 2015, Dr. Alan Cobo-Lewis was named director of the University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies, Maine’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD).

Alan has served as principal investigator on several federal and state grants and contracts, including research projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Jewish Guild for the Blind. His work has appeared in a number of journals including Developmental Psychology, Vision Research, and Maine Policy Review. In recent years, he’s led a number of community-engaged research projects involving faculty and staff from the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies.

Alan’s current research interests include how to use computers to assess development of communication in infants and toddlers and how to measure the quality of child care. He has a longstanding interest in promoting evidence-based approaches to education and policy, especially regarding persons with disabilities. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Miami (1988) and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Wisconsin (1992), where he was a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow. In 1998, Alan joined the faculty at UMaine, where he is currently associate professor of psychology.

His involvement with University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities began nearly 30 years ago: while an undergraduate, Alan participated in a research project at the University of Miami Mailman Center for Child Development (FL UCEDD); and as a graduate student, he worked with the University of Wisconsin Waisman Center for Human Development (WI UCEDD).

As a parent of two children, one of whom has a disability, Alan’s been an active member of the disability community in Maine for several years. He’s served as a long-time member and leader of the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council; has earned the respect of legislators and advocates for his work in Maine disability policy; and has been honored with a number of awards for his advocacy, including the University of Maine Presidential Public Service Award in 2008.