News Archive

Salimah LaForce and Maureen Linden conducted a Wireless RERC Usability Study at Deaf Link, Inc. in San Antonio, Texas on June 2, 2016. Study participants evaluated a prototype Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) Video and Symbology platform designed to increase the accessibility of the message content for people whose primary language is American Sign Language (ASL).

http://globalaccessibilitynews.com/2016/05/25/connecting-people-with-disabilities-to-their-world-through-technology/

TDI is seeking a talented and versatile professional for the position of Product Manager, for its soon-to-be developed Speech-to-Text Captioning/Caption Correction, a two-year long grant project. The ideal candidate will have a strong, clear commitment to meeting the purpose, goals, and timelines. The project seeks to create scalable access to low-cost, accurate captions for live events by combining speech-to-text technology with real-time caption corrections made by designated peers.

Nathan Moon presented his presentation titled "Improving STEM Education in Georgia's Colleges and Universities: Findings and Insights from Five Years of Evaluation" at the 2016 SST STEM Symposium, hosted by Georgia Gwinnett College, May 3, 2016.  This presentation discussed some of the current challenges and opportunities for STEM education in the State of Georgia, including efforts to broaden participation and increase postsecondary attainment in STEM.  It also presented some of the major accomplishments of the USG STEM Initiative and its participating institutions, as well

CACP researchers, Salimah LaForce and Christina Touzet, presented a poster on Emergency Alert System (EAS) vs.

Dalton Nechanicky, Research Assistant at CACP, presented his senior project on redesigning a commercial products warehouse for UPS Supply Chain Solutions at the Senior Design Expo on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at Georgia Tech's McCamish.  There was also other Senior Design projects from the Mechanical, Electrical, Aerospace and Biomedical engineering schools where cool robots and new airplane designs were displayed.

Helena Mitchell attended the 61st Annual Convention & 14th Annual Festival of Media Arts Conference (NAB/BEA) in Las Vegas on April 17-20, 2016.  She also visited FEMA team at the convention.

Nathan Moon gave a presentation at the 2016 CSUN Conference titled “Virtual Worlds for Supporting STEM Education and Workforce Development,” in San Diego, California, on March 25, 2016. The talk highlighted the use of virtual worlds to support post secondary STEM education and STEM workforce participation by students with disabilities.

CACP researchers Helena Mitchell, Nathan Moon and Salimah LaForce presented papers at the 2016 CSUN Conference.  The 2016 CSUN Conference was held in San Diego, CA from March 21 to March 26, 2016 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel.  (In photo above, Helena met with Charles McCobb (FEMA) and Richard Ray (NENA) at CSUN.)

CACP researchers presented at three different sessions.

Nathan Moon presented, "Virtual Worlds for Supporting STEM Education and Workforce Development," for the Education session,

Christina Touzet traveled to New Orleans, LA to present a poster, EAS & WEA: Does the new alerting technology improve accessibility? at RES/CON 2016 (formerly the International Disaster Conference and Expo (IDCE) March 1-3, 2016.  Christina presented the results of research activities which were conducted to examine the effectiveness of EAS and WEA to provide alerts to people with disabilities.  Specifically, the Wireless RERC conducted comparative analyses of the awareness of EAS and WEA messages, the accessibility of the two systems, as well as the types of pro

Paul M.A. Baker moderated the "What Works: Dimensions of Accessibility and Participation” panel at the Symposium on the Science of Broadening Participation (SoBP), sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), February 25 - 26 in Arlington, Virginia. The symposium addressed development of a qualified science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce in the U.S., with particular attention to the under-representation of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities.

February 9, 2016 - In 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate funded the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Center for Advanced Communications Policy to examine and report on how to optimize Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) message receipt by people with disabilities. Reaching people with disabilities, including the deaf and hard of hearing, with WEA messages is critical, in part because people with disabilities utilize and depend on wireless devices, including mobile phones at more than 96 percent.

Paul M.A. Baker delivered a panel presentation: “Universities, Public-Private Partnerships, and the Innovation Ecosystem” at the Opportunities of Techno-industrial Innovation In Different Socio-cultural and Policy Situations: Diversities of Innovation Workshop, held in the Research Center for Technological Innovation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, December 13-15, 2015. He was also an invited discussant for the Seminar on Technology and Innovation, held at the School of Economics and Management, December 14, 2015 at Beihang University, Beijing, China.

Helena Mitchell was invited to participate in the ITU-Academia collaboration consultation meeting that took place on the 8th of December (just prior to Kaleidoscope 2015). This meeting provided an opportunity to exchange views on what the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) can do to best meet the needs and expectations of Academia. This hands-on interactive event included some 50 participants representing institutions from all over the world. The ITU Secretary General (or the Deputy Secretary General) was present.

Nathan W. Moon Associate Director of Research for CACP and Susan Cozzens, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Development at Georgia Tech,  presented on “Accessibility and Inclusion in Graduate Programs” at the Annual Meeting on the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), on Friday, December 4, 2015, in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Moon presented findings from the NSF-funded Georgia STEM Accessibility Alliance (GSAA), and Dr. Cozzens discussed Georgia Tech’s efforts to improve accessibility and inclusion for graduate students.