Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture:
Designing and Building Technology to Empower People
When: Thursday, April 22, 2010
Reception: 5:30 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.
Lecture: 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Where: Johnson Hall, Room 102, UW Seattle
Cost: FREE, but advanced registration is requested.
To register please contact cpromad@u.washington.edu or call (206) 685-3422 by April 15.
Lecture Topic: Designing and Building Technology to Empower People
Dr. Richard Ladner will present the 2010 Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture. He will focus on new directions in accessible computing – software and hardware solutions that make computers and other aspects of life more accessible to persons with disabilities. Dr. Ladner will discuss the fact that new directions assume that persons with disabilities can create or configure their own accessibility solutions. This non-paternalistic approach empowers persons with disabilities to determine their own destinies and is the model that accessibility research follows at the University of Washington. Dr. Ladner will share three examples of this research including MobileASL (a mobile video phone service that allows deaf people to communicate in sign language), the ASL-STEM Forum (a social networking site where deaf students and scientists can share signs for scientific terms and discuss them) and the MobileAccessibility project where blind people can download applications to their cell phones that allows them to capture a barcode and give them the name of a product. The MobileAccessibility approach harnesses the sensors on modern cell phones together with automatic and human-powered web services to solve accessibility problems.
Dr. Ladner is on the faculty of the University of Washington Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and in the Department of Linguistics. Dr. Ladner received his B.S. from St. Mary’s College of California in 1965 and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California Berkeley, in 1971, and shortly thereafter joined the faculty at UW. Following many years of research in theoretical computer science, he has turned his attention to accessibility technology research, especially technology for deaf, deaf-blind, hard-of-hearing, and blind people. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Ladner organized the Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing from 2007-2009, and started the Vertical Mentoring Workshop for the Blind in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in 2006. He also led the effort to establish an ASL (American Sign Language) program at UW that began in the fall of 2007. Dr. Ladner is the recipient of the 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), the 2008 Computing Research Association’s A. Nico Habermann Award, the 2008 Purpose Prize and the 2009 UW Outstanding Service Award.
For more information on Dr. Ladner, please visit his site at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
Named in honor of the University of Washington’s first Vice President for the Office of Minority Affairs (1970), the annual Samuel E. Kelly Distinguished Faculty Lecture is dedicated to acknowledging the work of our distinguished faculty by spotlighting nationally recognized research focusing on diversity and social justice. Understanding differences takes place where there are opportunities to learn and become more informed about other people’s viewpoints, historical perspectives, life experiences, cultures, customs and contributions. Educational institutions have an opportunity and responsibility through teaching and research to promote awareness of diversity and its importance within a campus community and society.
Space is limited, sign up today.
The University of Washington is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. A sign language interpreter will be at the event. To request disability accommodation contact the Disability Services Office at least ten days in advance at: 206.543.6450/V, 206.543.6452/TTY, 206.685.7264 (FAX), or e-mail at dso@u.washington.edu
Past Lecturers
2009
Dr. Biren (Ratnesh) Nagda
School of Social Work
Embracing Difference, Engendering Justice: From the Courthouse to the Classroom to the Community Center.
2008
Dr. Joy Williamson
College of Education
Black Students, Campus Activism, and the Reform of Higher Education: History and Legacy.
2007
Dr. Karina Walters
School of Social Work
From Dis-placement to Dis-Ease: Embodiment and Expression of Historical Trauma among Indigenous Women.
2006
Dr. Devon G. Pena
Department of Anthropology/American Ethnic Studies
Place, Identity and Social Justice in the City; The Story of an Indigenous Diaspora.
2005 Inaugural Lecture
Dr. Quintard Taylor
Department of History
From Civil Rights to Black Power in the West: The Movement in Seattle, 1960-1970