Academic Background

Current Appointments

Director
• INDEX Program, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center
• INDEX Technical Services, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center                           

Director of Technology (Assistive Technology, Information/Dissemination, Online Learning)
• Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)
• Interdisciplinary Technical Assistance Center (ITAC) on Autism and Developmental Disabilities
• University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)

Co-Director
• Disabilities Interstitial, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Faculty
• Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental & Related Disabilities (LEND) Graduate Program
• Department of Family Medicine & Community Health
• Suffolk University Moakley Center for Public Management
• Academic Accommodations Committee

Invited Expert, World Wide Web Consortium

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group
• Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force
• Low Vision Accessibility Task Force
• Silver Community Group
• WAI-Engage: Web Accessibility Community Group

Member

• American Expert Speaker Program, U.S. Department of State
• Association of Applied Behavior Analysts International
• Massachusetts Association for Applied Behavior Analysts
• Accessibility Experience (AX) Working Group, Blackboard Partnership Program
• Board of Directors, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Massachusetts Chapter
• Boston Accessibility Group (Co-Founder, International-Conference Organizer, Presenter)
• Management Team, University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center
• International Association of Accessibility Professionals
• Visually Impaired and Blind User Group (VIBUG)

Licensure

• Licensed Applied Behavior Analyst

Professional and Research Interests

• Artificial Intelligence empowerment and fairness for people with disabilities
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Web text simplification on a mass scale
• Methodology for humans to easily and reliably create simplified Web text
• Information and communications technology (ICT) accessibility for people with disabilities
• ICT accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities, e.g., autism & intellectual disability
• Instructional design of online courses and learning-management systems
• Improving the use of digital technology by people with autism & intellectual disability
• Application of information technology in human services

Provider of Technology Services for Medical-School Managed Projects

INDEX Program
• Information & Referral for People with Disabilities in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Network of Information Providers (MNIP)
• Application Development (Web, Database, Mobile) for People with Disabilities
• E-learning Development Accessible to People with Disabilities
Mass Health Accessibility and Universal Readability
• MassHealth Web Site
Massachusetts Child & Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS)
• CANS Training & Certification
Massachusetts Aging and Disabilities Information Locator
• MADIL Web Site
Massachusetts Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiative (PCMHI)
• Online Courses for Primary-Care Physician Practices
Massachusetts Balancing Incentive Program (Long-Term Services & Supports)
• Mass Options Web Site
One Care: MassHealth plus Medicare (Long-Term Services & Supports)
• Online Courses and Webinars for Primary-Care Professional Staff
Pennsylvania Office of Developmental Programs
• My ODP Learning Management System

Presentations or Panelist Participations

International

• Accessibility guidelines for web developers: WCAG (A, AA, AAA), WAI-ARIA Webinar
  • IPSUM Technologies, Tacarigua, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 2019.
• AXSChat with John Rochford (Web Accessibility; AI Fairness & Empowerment)
  
  • AXS Chat: Building Bridges Because Accessibility Matters, 2019.
• Creating Simple Web Text for People with Intellectual Disabilities to Train Artifical Intelligence
  • 34th CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, Anaheim, CA 2019.
• Silver Task Force Work on Next Generation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
  • Cognitive Accessibility Task Force, Worldwide Web Consortium, University of Southampton, Southhampton, England, 2019.
• Cognitive Web Accessibility & Artificial Intelligence, Webinar
  • International Association of Accessibility Professionals, Atlanta, GA 2018.
• How to Make Learning More Accessible and Inclusive Webinar
  • Worldwide Lambda Solutions Headquarters: Vancouver, BC Canada 2018.
• Text Simplification and User Experience
  • 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, The Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, Toronto, Canada, 2016.
• Automated Web Text Simplification: Pilot Study & IBM Watson Supercomputer
  • Cognitive & Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force, Worldwide Web Consortium, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), London, England, 2015.

National

• Future Directions of Inclusive Technologies
  • Federal Annual Interagency Accessibility Forum (NASA, GSA, 508 Access Board), Washington, DC.
• A New Peer Support Network Workshop, Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities
  
  • Texas Advocates Viva La Fiesta Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX 2019
• Higher Education | Staff and Faculty Training Resources 
  • M-Enabling Summit: Promoting Accessible Technologies and Environments, Washington DC, 2019.
• Workshop on Diversity, Accessibility, and Inclusion in Library Systems
  • National Forum on Principles of Accessibility and Inclusion for the Design of Library Systems, Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 2019
• Cognitive Web Accessibility and Automated Text Simplification
  • Tech Supports for Cognition and Learning: Everyday Apps and Emerging Trends
    Mercy College Campus, Dobbs Ferry, NY, 2017.
• Cognitive Web Accessibility: W3C Task Force & Future Research
  • 30th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference
    California State University, Northridge, San Diego, CA, 2015.
• Work to Establish Cognitive Web Accessibility Guidelines by the World Wide Web
  Consortium & by the University of Massachusetts Medical School
  • Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 2014.
• Using Technology to Enhance Teaching, Learning, and Building a Community
  • Using Technology to Meet Special Needs at College and Beyond Special Interest
    Group, University Business Technology / Vanishing Boundaries-Emerging
    Opportunities Conference, Orlando, FL, 2013.

Regional

• Autonomous Vehicles Fireside Chat, Third Annual User Experience Symposium - UX & IOT: Connecting the Digital and Physical Realms
  • Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA
• Creating Simple Web Text for People with Intellectual Disabilities and to Train Artificial Intelligence
  • Boston Accessibility Conference, Fidelity Investments Corporate Headquarters, Boston, MA 2018.
• Accessibility Guidelines for the Web and Other Digital Technologies
  • UMass Second Annual 5-University Accessibility Retreat, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 2018.
• Cognitive Web Accessibility: Eye Tracking, Machine Learning, and App Development
  • Boston Accessibility Conference, IBM Watson Health Global Headquarters, Cambridge, MA, 2017.
• Web Accessibility Roundtable
  • Second Annual User Experience Innovation Symposium, Worcester Polytechnic University, Worcester, MA 2018.
• First Interdisciplinary Workshop on Robot-Mediated Behavior Intervention
  • UMASS Lowell, New England Robotics Experimentation and Validation Center
    Lowell, MA, 2017.
• Automated ICT Text Simplification for People with Cognitive Disabilities
  • Boston Accessibility Group, IBM Innovation Center, Cambridge, MA, 2015.
• Task Force on Higher Education for Students with Intellectual Disability and
  Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Massachusetts Joint Committee on Higher Education, Worcester, MA, 2014.
• Developing Online Courses and a Delivery Platform for People with Cognitive Disabilities
  • Boston Accessibility Group, Microsoft New England Research and Development Center, Cambridge, MA, 2012.
• Technology Development & Information and Referral for People with Disabilities
  • University of Massachusetts Medical School, Waltham, MA, 2012.