Dr. Caccamise received both her MA and PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder in Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Science.  She has been the Associate Director of the Institute since July, 1999. During this time the Institute has tripled its annual grant portfolio. She has been instrumental in the creation of an expert grants management staff, and development of physical research space for the institute, including the remodel/build-out of some 20,000 sq.ft of research space, including an fMRI facility.  Dr. Caccamise has been published in international and national journals and has presented topics at several national and international conferences.  She has also produced many government reports, briefings, and training materials, many of which are in the form of video documentaries and interactive computer/web-based programs.

Dr. Caccamise is the ICS Academic Programs Director, and was instrumental in creating and implementing the combined Ph.D. program in cognitive science, the first interdiciplinary degree of its type in Colorado, as well as other graduate and undergraduate certificate programs.

Prior to assuming her position in the Institute, Dr. Caccamise held various leadership positions in industry. With a focus as a human factors engineer and program manager she tackled a wide range of cognitive issues associated with systems design and analysis, training and qualification programs, management and leadership, human reliability/risk analysis, ergonomic and safety programs, human-machine interfaces, environmental programs, and nuclear safeguards and security.

Research

She directs the Salsa lab, a research group dedicated to studying discouses processes. Currently she is the Principal Investigator for a grant with the Department of Education/IES to develop middle school curriculum that teaches students expert reading comprehension skills as they struggle to understand challenging content area course work such as science and history. This lab group also employs in their research natural language processing strategies and maintains the LSA website, used internationally in language research and university coursework.

Recent Works

Caccamise, D.; Snyder, L.; Kintsch, W.; Allen, C.; Kintsch, E.; Oliver, W. (2010) Teaching Summarization via the Web, American Educational Research Association, annual proceedings.

Caccamise, D & Snyder, L, (Spring, 2009) Guest Editors for a special issue of Perspectives on Language and Literacy.

Caccamise, D & Snyder, L, (2009) Comprehension Instruction in the 21st Century. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, Spring. International Dyslexia Association.

Banich, M. & Caccamise, D. (Eds.) (2010) Generalization of Knowledge: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Psychology Press.

Caccamise, D., Snyder, L. & Kintsch, E. (2008). Constructivist Theory and the Situation Model: Relevance to Future Assessment of Reading Comprehension. In Block, C. C., & Parris, S. R. (Eds.) (2008). Comprehension Instruction, 2nd edition. New York, NY: Guilford.

Snyder, L. & Caccamise, D. (2009). Comprehension processes: Building meaning and making sense of things. In M. A. Nippold & C. M. Scott (Eds.) Expository Discourse in Children, Adolescents and Adults: Development and Disorders. Mahwah,NJ: Erlbaum/Taylor & Francis.

Caccamise, D., Franzke, M., Eckhoff, A., Kintsch, E., & Kintsch, W. (2007). Guided practice in technology-based summary writing. In D. S. McNamara & A. C. Graesser (Eds.), Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theory, Interventions, and Technologies. Erlbaum: Mahwah, NJ.

Kintsch, E., Caccamise, D., Franzke, M., Johnson, N., & Dooley, S. (2007). Summary Street®: Computer-guided summary writing. In T. K. Landauer, D. M., McNamara, S. Dennis, & W. Kintsch (Eds.), Latent Semantic Analysis.

Kintsch, E., D. Caccamise, W. Kintsch, L. Snyder. Workshop on Latent Semantic Analysis and Applications , University of Paris VIII, France, September

Caccamise, D., Snyder, L., Kintsch, E., Kintsch, W. 2006, Improving High Stakes Testing Reading and Writing Outcomes through Summarization. Paper presented at the SSSR Annual meeting, Vancouver.

Caccamise, D., Snyder, L. (2005) “Constructive Models of Reading Comprehension - The Situation Model and Related Constructs.” Topics in Language Disordes. 25,1.

Snyder, L., Caccamise, D., Wise, B. “The Assessment of Reading Comprehension: Considerations and Cautions.” Topics in Language Disordes. 25,1.

Franzke, M., Kintsch, E., Caccamise, D., Johnson, N., and Dooley, S. (2005), Computer Support for Comprehension and Writing. Educational Conputing Research. 33, 1.

Recent Presentations

Caccamise, D.; Snyder, L.; Kintsch, W.; Allen, C.; Kintsch, E.; Oliver, W. (2010) Teaching Summarization via the Web, American Educational Research Association, annual proceedings.

Caccamise, D & Snyder, L, (Spring, 2009) Guest Editors for a special issue of Perspectives on Language and Literacy.

Caccamise, D & Snyder, L, (2009) Comprehension Instruction in the 21st Century. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, Spring. International Dyslexia Association.

Banich, M. & Caccamise, D. (Eds.) (2010) Generalization of Knowledge: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Psychology Press.

Caccamise, D., Snyder, L. & Kintsch, E. (2008). Constructivist Theory and the Situation Model: Relevance to Future Assessment of Reading Comprehension. In Block, C. C., & Parris, S. R. (Eds.) (2008). Comprehension Instruction, 2nd edition. New York, NY: Guilford.

Snyder, L. & Caccamise, D. (2009). Comprehension processes: Building meaning and making sense of things. In M. A. Nippold & C. M. Scott (Eds.) Expository Discourse in Children, Adolescents and Adults: Development and Disorders. Mahwah,NJ: Erlbaum/Taylor & Francis.

Caccamise, D., Franzke, M., Eckhoff, A., Kintsch, E., & Kintsch, W. (2007). Guided practice in technology-based summary writing. In D. S. McNamara & A. C. Graesser (Eds.), Reading Comprehension Strategies: Theory, Interventions, and Technologies. Erlbaum: Mahwah, NJ.

Kintsch, E., Caccamise, D., Franzke, M., Johnson, N., & Dooley, S. (2007). Summary Street®: Computer-guided summary writing. In T. K. Landauer, D. M., McNamara, S. Dennis, & W. Kintsch (Eds.), Latent Semantic Analysis.

Kintsch, E., D. Caccamise, W. Kintsch, L. Snyder. Workshop on Latent Semantic Analysis and Applications , University of Paris VIII, France, September

Caccamise, D., Snyder, L., Kintsch, E., Kintsch, W. 2006, Improving High Stakes Testing Reading and Writing Outcomes through Summarization. Paper presented at the SSSR Annual meeting, Vancouver.

Caccamise, D., Snyder, L. (2005) “Constructive Models of Reading Comprehension - The Situation Model and Related Constructs.” Topics in Language Disordes. 25,1.

Snyder, L., Caccamise, D., Wise, B. “The Assessment of Reading Comprehension: Considerations and Cautions.” Topics in Language Disordes. 25,1.

Franzke, M., Kintsch, E., Caccamise, D., Johnson, N., and Dooley, S. (2005), Computer Support for Comprehension and Writing. Educational Conputing Research. 33, 1.