Keynote Speaker - Dr Vicki Hanson, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Dr Vicki Hanson has been involved in working with people with disabilities for almost 30 years so it is not surprising that she is to be a key note speaker at the 12th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE). The main them of the conference is inclusive education in computer science. The conference has attracted interest from around the world and will take place in Dundee from 25th to 27th June 2007. Recognised as an expert in her field Dr Hanson manages the Accessibility Research Group at IBM’s T J Watson Research Center. Her presentation will focus on raising awareness of the needs of disabled users when creating computer applications. There will be a live demonstration of an exciting new technique for understanding user needs. Interactive sessions with conference attendees will consider issues raised in this demonstration and how these insights might be applied in the teaching of computer science.

She comments, “My work has focussed on people with disabilities since the outset and more recently has developed to include the issues faced by those with disabilities in relation to computer access. It is important that we recognise that barriers to computer access exist. However as well as acknowledging them we also need to highlight their existence and work to remove them.”

Dr Janet Hughes the Assistant Head of Learning and Teaching in the School of Computing at the University of Dundee, is a key figure in organising ITiCSE 2007. She says, “Dr Hanson is respected around the world for her work. In 2004 the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) made her an ACM Fellow in recognition of her contributions to computing technologies for people with disabilities. We are delighted that Dr Hanson will be delivering a key note speech at ITiCSE 2007.”

Between 1978 and 1986, first as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Language and Cognition at the Salk Institute and subsequently as a Research Associate in the Reading Research Group at Haskins Laboratories, Dr Hanson conducted research in the areas of American Sign Language and reading. In 1986 Dr Hanson joined the IBM Research Division and has worked extensively with deaf children and adults.

Dr Vicki Hanson – biography notes

• Vicki manages the Accessibility Research group at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed papers and conference presentations and has given the Keynote address at several scientific conferences.
• She holds a doctorate in Cognitive Psychology. Her primary research areas consist of computer usability and Web access, as well as reading and language processing in learning environments.
• Chair of ACM’s Special Interest Group on Accessibility (SIGACCES) she has also chaired their ASSETS’02 conference on Assistive Technologies.
• She has received multiple awards from IBM for Outstanding Technical Achievement in the areas of education and accessibility and in 1992 was an award winner in the Johns Hopkins National Search for Computing to Assist Persons with Disabilities.
• She serves on Advisory Boards for universities and non-profit organizations in disability areas (Access Alliance, CAST, and the Georgia Institute of Technology RERC on Workplace Accommodations), and on government review panels in the U.S. and U.K.
• She is the founder and co-Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, Associate Editor for Accessibility of ACM Transactions on the Web and has served as guest editor for several Special Issues on accessibility topics for journals.
• She was named ACM Fellow in 2004 for her contributions to computing technologies for people with disabilities.