This fall, the country celebrated National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) with hosted talks about best practices for employers on how to increase disability inclusion. Numerous organizations hosted events, awareness campaigns, and initiatives in support of NDEAM. Dell convened an "Accessibility Driving Innovation" panel, and Microsoft published videos and blog posts about their vision that accessibility and inclusion are essential for empowering everyone, everywhere.

Paul M.A. Baker was an invited keynote speaker at the Intellectual Property (IP) in manufacturing sectors (ship building) in China Conference, hosted by Ship Building National Association of China, Zhenjiang, PRC on November 18, 2019. He spoke on "Innovation Networks, Platform Intermediaries, and Trends in IT Workforce."

Paul M.A. Baker and Kaye Husbands Fealing presented at the Workshop on Government Decision-Making and Allocating Scientific Resources. They presented on the Scientific Labor Force panel on their NSF-funded grant titled A Research Agenda for Science of Broadening Participation (SoBP) 2.0: STEM Employment of People with Disabilities. This event was held in Washington, D.C. from January 8-9, 2018.

Helena Mitchell, Ph.D., executive director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP), was re-appointed to Regents' Researcher by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. The Regents’ Researcher title is the highest research recognition bestowed by the University System of Georgia, and celebrates Mitchell’s scientific accomplishments and contributions to her field of research. Mitchell was recruited to Georgia Tech through the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar program that spans educational, community and business environments.

Helena Mitchell made a guest presentation before the DHS, FEMA, IPAWS subcommittee on emergencies. The subcommittee requested Mitchell to present a tutorial on Taking Appropriate Action during Emergencies. The title of the presentation was “Effective Emergency Alerts = Appropriate Action”. This webinar was directed toward committee and all the subcommittee memberships. It addressed how research conducted by the Wireless RERC yielded findings regarding which technologies were the most effective during disasters. The presentation was held on October 18, 2017.

Helena Mitchell was a speaker at the Amity University [in] London Leadership Workshop on The Impact of Shifting Technologies. She also served as referee for six Ph.D. student presentations at the University of London, Birkbeck College for students of Amity University. The student presentations covered the future of finance on industries such as robotics innovation sources; and opportunities to advance adoption of R&D. This event took place on November 10, 2017 in London, United Kingdom.

Wireless RERC principal investigator, Helena Mitchell, Ph.D., was interviewed for the IBM thinkLeaders Blog, Innovating for people with disabilities: Why companies should invest in universal design. The article discusses many pathways to inclusion, including the Internet of Things, incorporating universal design principles into all mainstream devices, and advancing assistive technologies.

Paul M.A. Baker was an invited speaker at the Engaging Electors With Disabilities, Inspire Democracy Workshop, hosted by Elections Canada and the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD), on March 2, 2018, in Ottawa, Ontario. He spoke on the broader social factors affecting accessible voting and inclusive elections.

Wireless RERC principal investigator, Helena Mitchell, and researcher, Salimah LaForce, will present Getting on the Record with the FCC: Public Input Process How To's at the 33rd CSUN Assistive Technology Conference (CSUN). The session is on Thursday, March 22, 2018, at 3:20 PM. CSUN will convene March 19 to March 23, 2018, in San Diego, California and is the largest international conference addressing topics regarding people with disabilities and assistive and accessible technologies.

Brad Fain (CACP), Paul M.A. Baker (CACP), and Brian Jones (Wireless RERC) were panelists on the “Aging and Technology” panel, part of the Southern Gerontological Society annual meeting held in Buford Georgia, April 13, 2017. 

Click here for more information on the Southern Gerontological Society Meeting