Cohort 1 Ambassadors
States and Territories Represented by Cohort 1:
Ryan Beaty
Ryan Beaty is a third-year doctoral student at the University of Oklahoma, supported through the Zarrow Institute on Transition & Self-Determination. Before dedicating himself to full-time graduate school, he spent sixteen years as a secondary teacher, dividing his experience between Japan and Oklahoma. Mr. Beaty has a keen interest in policy and advocacy, and he is passionately committed to establishing accessible and inclusive pathways to postsecondary education for individuals with disabilities, particularly for prospective students from underrepresented communities.
Jordan Sibayan
Jordan Sibayan is a Colorado native, and an advocate and activist for the Disability Rights Movement. He was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy from birth, and has been a wheelchair user most of his life. He has used his unique life experiences and artistic abilities to help in the fight for disability rights. Formerly a member of American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) from 2016-2022, he participated in direct actions with the goal to save Medicaid, improve access to home and community based services, gain better more reliable public transportation for the disability community, and traveled with others from the Colorado Chapter to DC on a regular bases to meet with legislators. Jordan was responsible for leading meetings with various congress members and senators’ offices regarding their support for legislation. He hopes to build on his previous skills working with legislators locally and in Washington DC to advocate for common sense legislation to help the disability community. "Working with legislators and knowing how to identify who has the power to make the changes you want to see has been enthralling", says Jordan. Currently enrolled in Colorado's JFK Partnership Trainee Program, Jordan hopes this will help him further skills in leadership so he can continue his efforts. Jordan's main goal is to use the skills from this course to work with his partner, Jacqueline, to develop a group and campaign to work on legislation to help people with disabilities across the United States.
Amy Rieser
Amy M. Rieser, MPA, is a Senior Program Manager for Community Training and Evaluation at the University of Wyoming - Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND). She holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) through the School of Politics, Public Affairs & International Studies with a graduate certificate in Community and Public Health from the University of Wyoming where she also earned her B.A. in Sociology and Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) and minor in Statistics. Her work focuses on incorporating universal design for learning and adult learning best-practice into WIND's trainings. Amy's areas of interest include mental and behavioral health, autism, and nervous system regulation.
Alecia Mercier
Alecia Mercier graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a PhD in Applied Developmental Psychology. She is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the Nisonger Center at The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on improving the health and well-being of individuals with IDD through community engaged work, where individuals with lived experiences are included throughout the research process.
Rebecca Townsend
Rebecca Townsend, MME, MT-BC is a doctoral candidate in Special Education at the University of Kansas and a University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) trainee at the Kansas University Center on Disabilities (KUCDD). Her professional experiences as a Board-Certified Music Therapist and clinical supervisor have shaped her focus and informed her work as related to strengths-based and inclusive practices for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across contexts. Her research interests also include promoting self-determination of clinicians (e.g. teachers, related service providers) in education, clinical training, and professional development contexts and inclusive music education.
Ethan Yoo
Ethan Yoo (he/him) is a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. His research interests include computational social science, environmental sociology, and policy analysis, with a focus on disability, social mobility, and disaster vulnerability across the life course. Before starting his PhD, Ethan conducted data analysis and program evaluation at the Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response (OHSEPR) within the Administration for Children and Families. A first-generation college graduate and AmeriCorps VISTA alumnus, he earned bachelor’s degrees from Swarthmore College and Thomas Edison State University. He also holds a Master of Information (MI) in data science from Rutgers University. Ethan was an NJLEND fellow at The Boggs Center on Disability and Human Development from 2022 to 2024.
Haley Day
Haley Day is a second-year doctoral student in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Psychology program at Ohio State University. Haley’s areas of interest include mental health in adults with ID/DD and practices that foster inclusion and accessibility in various settings for individuals with ID/DD. As a State of the States Data Ambassador, Haley is excited to collaborate with other passionate individuals and broaden her understanding of ID/DD data on both a national and regional scale.
