Dis-IT Researcher Biographies

Principal Investigator & Research Co-Director

Deborah Stienstra is a Professor in the Interdisciplinary Master's Program in Disability Studies at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was formerly Professor of Politics at the University of Winnipeg (1990-2003), and Royal Bank Research Chair at the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies (2000-2003).

Community Co-Director

Gary Annable was the Dis-IT Research Alliance's Community Co-Director from 2004 to 2007. He was formerly Senior Research Associate with the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies (2000-2003).

Co-Investigators

Gary Birch is Executive Director of the Neil Squire Foundation in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia and is an Adjunct Professor at UBC and Simon Fraser University. His areas of expertise are assistive technologies, robotic control systems, EEG signal processing, digital signal processing, human-machine interface systems, biological systems and service delivery programs for persons with disabilities.

Catherine Fichten is Professor of Psychology at Montreal’s Dawson College and the Co-Director of the Adaptech Research Network , a team of academics, students and consumers that conducts research on the use of computer, information, and adaptive technologies by Canadian college and university students with disabilities. She has a Ph. D in Clinical Psychology from McGill University.

Patrick Fougeyrollas is an Associate Professor at the Departments of Rehabilitation and Anthropology at Université Laval in Quebec City, and a researcher at the Institut de réadaptation en déficience physique de Quebec . He has a Ph.D in Anthropology from Université Laval. He is a founding member and President of the International Network on the Disability Creation Process (INDCP) and is a member of international and North American committees related to rehabilitation, social integration, Disability Issues and Health Classification for the World Health Organization and the Council of Europe.

Aldred Neufeldt is Professor of Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies at the University of Calgary and a member of the board of directors of GLADNET (the Global Applied Disability Network on Employment and Training), a world-wide web supported organization whose mission is the promotion of the inclusion of people with disabilities in the labour force globally. He has a Ph.D in Psychology from the University of Hawaii.

Carol Richards is Professor of Rehabilitation in the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval in Quebec, Director of the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherché en réadaptation et integration sociale (CIRRIS), and holds a Canada Research Chair in Rehabilitation. She has a Ph.D in Experimental Surgery from McGill University.

Jutta Treviranus is Director of the Resource Centre for Academic Technology and the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC) at the University of Toronto.

James Watzke is Dean, Applied Research at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) and the Director of BCIT's Technology Centre. He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Psychology from the University of Lund in Sweden and is interested in aging and technology, product evaluation, and seniors’ injury prevention.

Collaborators

Tom Calvert is Professor of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University in Surrey, British Columbia. He has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Steve Jacobs is President of IDEAL Group, Inc., a service organization dedicated to maximizing the accessibility and usability of electronic and information technology. He was previously the founder and president of IDEAL at NCR Corporation. He has served on many U.S. government advisory committees, including the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer/Disability Telecommunications Advisory Committee, and the Access Board’s Electronic and Information Technology Access Advisory Committee (EITAAC) and Telecommunications Access Advisory Committee (TAAC). He was a contributing author of the EITAAC and TAAC final reports.

Jo Ann Lévesque is Research Officer in the Faculty of Arts at Montreal's McGill University.

Rajesh Malik is Professor of Psychology at Dawson College in Montreal.

André Oberlé is Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at the University of Scranton. He was formerly Director of the Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning at the University of Winnipeg.

Jacquie Ripat is Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy in the School of Medical Rehabilitation at the University of Manitoba. Her current research interests include the development and evaluation of assistive technologies, the application and evaluation of the impact of assistive technology use, and development of the "Client-Centered Process Evaluation" and the "Client-centered strategies framework"

Joan Wolforth is Director of the Office for Students with Disabilities at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.