This is funding to support a Doctoral Consortium (workshop) of approximately 10 promising graduate students from the United States and abroad (no more than 3 expected to be from outside the country), along with 5 distinguished research faculty. The event will take place on Sunday, October 19, immediately preceding and in conjunction with the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2014), to be held Monday-Wednesday, October 20-22, in Rochester, NY. The ASSETS conferences are the premier forum for presenting innovative research on the design and use of both mainstream and specialized assistive technologies. This includes the use of technology by and in support of: individuals with hearing, sight and other sensory impairments; individuals with motor impairments; individuals with memory, learning and cognitive impairments; individuals with multiple impairments; older adults; and professionals who work with these populations. Researchers and developers from around the world in both academia and industry will meet to exchange ideas and present their latest work. More information about the conference may be found at www.sigaccess.org/assets14.
A key component of building this community is through its youth. The ASSETS 2014 Doctoral Consortium will provide an opportunity for graduate students from diverse backgrounds (computing, engineering, psychology, architecture, etc.) to come together and explore their research interests in an interdisciplinary workshop, under the guidance of the PI and a panel of other distinguished experts in the field, so that they can appreciate the broader spectrum of research and development approaches to assistive technologies and universal usability, and also experience the community in which they can pursue their endeavors. Student participants will make formal presentations of their work during the consortium, and will receive constructive feedback from the faculty panel. The feedback is designed to help students understand and articulate how their work is positioned relative to related research, whether their topics are adequately focused for thesis research projects, whether their methods are correctly chosen and applied, and whether their results are appropriately analyzed and presented. Thus, the consortium will help shape ongoing and future research projects aimed at assistive technologies and universal access, will promote scholarship and networking among new researchers in this emerging interdisciplinary area, and will also expose these promising young researchers to a larger community. In an effort to further integrate Doctoral Consortium participants into the conference itself, a (poster) session has been set aside in the technical program to allow all Doctoral Consortium participants to present their research to the full conference. In addition, one student from the Doctoral Consortium will be selected to deliver the closing plenary presentation. An evaluation of the consortium will be conducted and the results made available to the organizers of future such events.
The Doctoral Consortium will help expand the participation of young researchers pursuing graduate studies in this field, by providing them an opportunity to gain wider exposure in the community for their innovative work and to obtain feedback and guidance from senior members of the research community. It will further help foster a sense of community among these young researchers, by allowing them to create a social network both among themselves and with senior researchers at a critical stage in their professional development. Because the students and faculty constitute a diverse group across a variety of dimensions, including nationality/cultural and scientific discipline, the students' horizons are broadened to the future benefit of the field. The organizers will take special steps to promote participation from institutions with relatively large numbers of students from under-represented groups; to further increase diversity, participation will be limited to at most one male and one female student from the same institution.
The Doctoral Consortium (DC) at ACM ASSETS2014 was held on October 19th 2014 in Rochester, NY. The objectives of the consortium are: - To provide doctoral students working in the field of assistive technologies and accessibility with a friendly and open forum to present their research ideas, listen to ongoing work from peer students, and receive constructive feedback. - To develop a supportive community of scholars and a spirit of collaborative research. - To provide students with relevant information about important issues for doctoral candidates and future academics. - To support a new generation of researchers with information and advice on academic, research, industrial, and nontraditional career paths. Nine doctoral students, five panelists and two DC co-chairs attended the event. The ten students came from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Portugal. Their research covers a variety of topics related to accessibility and computing, such as computer aided interactive drawing for blind users, web searching by individuals with cognitive disabilities, chairable computing platform to support power wheelchair users, and scalable methods to collect and visualize sidewalk accessibility data for people with mobility impairments. During the consortium, all students presented their dissertation work followed by an open and constructive discussion in which both panelists and other students provided suggestions on a variety of perspectives such as research methodology, potential technical solutions, data analysis methods, and research implications. Additional resources relevant to the work were also proposed. In addition to the discussion sessions on students’ dissertation work, participants also discussed the general challenges faced by doctoral students. All panelists shared their own experiences and provided insights on how to address those challenges. Another session focused on the career development after earning a doctoral degree, aiming to help students plan for their future early on. The consortium also provided the doctoral students an opportunity to connect with students from other universities or even other countries to facilitate potential research collaboration. With the financial support provided by the NSF grant, students were able to attend all the paper sessions and events held during the ACM ASSETS 2014 Conference. All the DC student participants also presented their dissertation research during the ASSETS2014 poster session specifically designated to the DC event. During the poster session, students collected feedback regarding their research from a larger and more diversified audience. Feedback from both students and panelists suggests that the consortium was highly successful. Eight out of nine student participants agreed or strongly agreed that the consortium achieved all four objectives listed in the grant proposal. In addition to quantitative ratings, participants also provided positive feedback and comments regarding the event: - ‘It was a great opportunity to share and get feedback on my work.’ - ‘The small group discussions were great and helpful.’ - ‘Really great experience. It has made me really want to continue to be a part of the ASSETS community.’ To summarize, the doctoral consortium successfully achieved all the objectives listed in the grant proposal. It helped shape ongoing and future research projects aimed at assistive technologies and accessible computing. It also promoted scholarship and networking among new researchers in this emerging interdisciplinary area.
