TEAM

LEADERSHIP

Professor E. William Clymer
Professor E. William Clymer, Associate Director of NTID’s Center on Access Technology, will serve as the project PI. Clymer’s background is in instructional design and evaluation, with expertise in use of technology in the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. He has organized four International Symposia on Educational Technology and Education of the Deaf conferences, held at NTID, and also serves as Project Manager for the Postsecondary Education Network - International, housed at NTID.

Dr. Jorge Diaz-Herrera
Dr. Jorge Diaz-Herrera, Dean of the Golisano College for Computing and Information Sciences, which houses CASCI, will serve as the project Co-PI. Diaz-Herrera has a background and expertise in software engineering. He is a co-editor of Computing Curricula, a software engineering volume, and has organized faculty development workshops to enhance software engineering state-of-the-practice in industry – a project co-sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University and NSF.

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington is one of the top such departments in the nation. It has leaders in computer systems, networking, and educational technology on its faculty. The CSE department and the DO-IT project (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) at the University are homes for the AccessComputing Alliance, which is a national program to increase the participation of persons with disabilities in computing. The University’s Office of Computing and Communications is a leader in providing advanced communication technology to the university.

Dr. Richard Ladner
Boeing Professor in Computer Science and Engineering, graduated from St. Mary's College of California with a B.S. in 1965 and received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1971, at which time he joined the faculty of the University of Washington. In addition to his appointment in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, he is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and in the Department of Linguistics. After 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. He co-directs the MobileASL project that is developing video compression algorithms to increase the understandability of American Sign Language video at low bandwidth and low power suitable for cell phones. He also co-directs the AccessComputing Alliance which is working on increasing the number and success of students with disabilities in computing fields. He directs the Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing that is nine week program for students interested in computing careers. He is currently on the Editorial Board of the ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1985-86 and a Fulbright Scholar in 1993. He is a Fellow of the ACM. He is a recipient of the 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University.

CONSTITUENCY GROUPS
Six working teams representing the constituency groups identified previously will be selected and a facilitator and co-facilitator will be recruited for each of the constituency teams at least nine months prior to the Summit. The facilitators will be commissioned to prepare a white paper that provides an overview of the state of the art and the potential benefits and challenges of creating an on-line remote interpreting and captioning infrastructure from the perspective of their respective constituency.

At the Summit, the 50 selected leaders will be divided into 6 constituency groups based on area of expertise, involvement, and experience. There will be no more than 8 persons (6 national, 2 regional) in each group. Each group will be responsible for discussing the benefits and challenges associated with creating an on-line remote interpreting and captioning infrastructure specific to the stakeholder population in which they represent. The six stakeholder populations include:

• Students (6 national, 2 regional): Those studying in mainstreamed STEM programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels;
• STEM Faculty (6 national, 2 regional): Those who teach deaf and hard-of-hearing students while utilizing the new on-line remote interpreting and captioning systems;
• Coordinators of Support Services (6 national, 2 regional): Those representing the needs of undergraduate and graduate STEM universities who are knowledgeable regarding the challenges associated with providing effective and efficient delivery of services on a continuing basis;
• Educational Captioners and Interpreters (6 national, 2 regional): Those with sufficient experience to represent issues of quality of service and technical challenges associated with offering their services remotely;
• Educational, Linguistic, and Sign Language Researchers/Developers (6 national, 2 regional): Those with sufficient experience in deaf postsecondary education, and have a proven history of conducting meaningful research and evaluation efforts in the field of classroom communication and support; and
• Cyberinfrastructure Specialists (6 national, 2 regional): Those representing cyberinfrastructure, networking, user interface, and video technologies. These individuals will offer a perspective on the state of cyberinfrasturcture as it applies to the delivery of remote interpreting and captioning systems within a postsecondary environment.