GVU Distinguished Alum Brownbag Speaker: Fabricating Accessibility

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Abstract

With the increasing power and flexibility of technologies available to consumers, we are seeing a revolution in how assistive technology (AT) is being created and by whom. This talk will highlight the potential of these technologies for people with disabilities, as well as the challenges that end users face in leveraging them effectively to address AT issues. I will touch on issues around process, materials, design and followup. In each case, there are a host of open problems that can benefit from computational methods and better tools.

Speaker Bio

Jennifer Mankoff is the Ladner Professor in the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. Her research areas include HCI, Fabrication, Ubicomp, Diversity, and Accessibility. Jennifer applies a human-centered perspective to data-driven applications by combining empirical methods and technical innovation to solve pressing social problems in areas such as accessibility, health and sustainability. Integrating computational approaches with human-centered analytics, she develops tools that can influence energy saving behavior, provide support for individuals with chronic illnesses and design 3D-printed assistive technologies for people with disabilities. She runs the make4a11 group, which can be found on twitter (@make4a11) and online at http://make4a11.org. Jennifer received her PhD at Georgia Tech, advised by Gregory Abowd and Scott Hudson, and her B.A. from Oberlin College. Her previous faculty positions include UC Berkeley’s EECS department and Carnegie Mellon’s HCI Institute. Jennifer has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, IBM Faculty Fellowship and Best Paper awards from ASSETS, CHI and Mobile HCI. Some supporters of her research include Autodesk, Google Inc., the Intel Corporation, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft Corporation and the National Science Foundation.

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GVU Distinguished Alum Brownbag Speaker: Fabricating Accessibility

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