Building Research Capacity in Wireless Accessibility and Usability

Staff

• Maribeth Gandy, Project Director
• Jim Mueller
• Vicki Haberman
• Ed Price

Goals

• Greater wireless technology (WT) and accessibility related research
• Increased awareness of the needs of users with disabilities
• More student interest in pursuing careers in these domains.

Desired Outcomes

• Researchers and students become aware of the need for work in the WT and disability domain.
• Students and researchers have the necessary tools to start performing research and development in the area of WT accessibility and usability.
• Connections are formed in academia and industry for future technical assistance and collaborative relationships.
• The impact of our research training opportunities evaluated, in terms of the accomplishments of trainees and contributions to the field.

Activities

• Student researcher traineeships where undergraduate and graduate students are mentored and assist in Wireless RERC research using a junior colleague model (very small audience/very heavy involvement)
• Three semester-long courses at Georgia Tech, two taught once a year and one taught every-other year to build upon locally focused lectures (small audience/heavy involvement)
• Annual student design competition with results presented at national conferences, providing larger audiences the opportunity to learn about designing for individuals with varied ability (small audience/some involvement)
• Conference tutorials and workshops focused on WT accessibility and usability issues (large audience/minimal involvement)

Progress/Updates

• List of student project ideas and Georgia Tech faculty/research staff sponsors available