Gregg C. Vanderheiden
Gregg Vanderheiden, Ph.D.is a professor of Industrial and Biomedical Engineering and directs the Trace R&D Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has worked in the field of technology and disability for just under 40 years. Coined the term Augmentative Communication. Created the first portable user programmable communication aid. First ‘portable’ text to speech synthesizer. First Computer Access Guidelines. First Web Access Guidelines. Access features from Dr Vanderheiden’s research are built into every computer operating system today (MAC, Windows, Linux, X-Windows) as well as Amtrak Ticketing machines, ATMs, Voting machines, WWII Memorial, and Automated Postal Systems across the US.
Dr Vanderheiden has served on numerous professional, industry and government advisory and planning committees has received over 30 awards for his work on technology and disability include the ACM Social Impact Award for the Human-Computer Interaction Community, the Ron Mace Award, the Access award from AFB, the Yuri Rubinski Memorial World Wide Web Award (WWW6), and the Isabelle and Leonard H. Goldenson Award for Outstanding Research in Medicine and Technology (UCPA). He is a past President of RESNA - Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and on the steering committee of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).