Downstate ABA Program Ranked First Nationally in Research Productivity Study
By Office of the President | Mar 17, 2026
A new independent study published in Behavior Analysis in Practice ranked Downstate’s Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program first in the nation in per-faculty research productivity among behavior analytic graduate training programs in the United States and Canada. The program also ranked first in a separate measure comparing publication output to expected performance based on faculty size.
The study examined 196 graduate programs and 559 tenured or tenure-track faculty members across the field. Researchers analyzed peer-reviewed publications from 2015 to 2024 and compared each program’s output with what would be expected based on the number of faculty.
Downstate’s Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis, housed in the School of Health Professions, produced 496 percent more publications than expected during the 2020 to 2024 period. The program ranked second on both measures for the full 2015 to 2024 decade. Jason Vladescu, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA (NY), Professor and Chair of the ABA program, ranked fourth among faculty in the field, with 56 peer-reviewed publications over the past five years and 87 over the past decade.
Dr. Vladescu said he values seeing students take part in the research process and observing how that experience informs their work as practitioners. He added that he joined Downstate to build a program focused on research and training and that the environment at Downstate has supported that effort. Dr. Vladescu’s appointment reflects a research capacity initiative in the School of Health Professions led by Dean Allen Lewis. The program has also been awarded a PRODiG+ Postdoctoral Fellow who will join in the academic year 2026 to 2027 and contribute to research and teaching.
The program recently received a Tier 2a designation from the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI). This designation is a step toward full ABAI accreditation. The program prepares students for board certification and state licensure through coursework, fieldwork, research mentorship, and participation in scholarly projects.
Applied behavior analysis is used to support individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities. Federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Surgeon General, identify ABA as an evidence-based approach for improving communication, social skills, and adaptive behavior. The field also includes areas such as organizational behavior management, brain injury rehabilitation, clinical behavior analysis, and behavioral approaches in education and public health.
At Downstate, the ABA program collaborates with the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program, a HRSA-funded initiative now in its fifth year. The LEND grant is a collaboration between the College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics and the School of Health Professions, led by Principal Investigator Harris Huberman, M.D., Director, Division of Child Development, and Co-Principal Investigator Allen N. Lewis, Ph.D., CRC, Dean, School of Healthcare Professions.
The Full Study in Behavior Analysis in Practice
Congratulations to Drs. Vladescu, Huberman, and Dean Lewis!