Eleazar Vasquez

Dr. Eleazar Vasquez III is the director of the Toni Jennings Exceptional Education Institute and Professor of exceptional student education at the University of Central Florida. His research has been continuously funded since 2008 with more than $12 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS). The goal of this research is to understand how K-12 and postsecondary students with and without disabilities can effectively learn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content using innovative technologies through interdisciplinary collaborations, lean startup models, and universal design for learning framework.

Dr. Vasquez currently holds a joint appointment with the Learning Science Cluster at UCF, affiliate faculty status with Lockheed Martin academy, and SREAL synthetic reality lab. He earned his Ph.D. from Utah State University and is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D). He has practiced in the field of education as a middle school resource math teacher, technology coordinator, and school psychologist prior to becoming a professor.

Nationally Dr. Vasquez serves as the Treasurer for Higher Education Consortium for Special Education (HECSE), Technology Chair for the American Council for Rural Special Education (ACRES), and joined the CAST board in 2019.