Universal Design (UD)

Georgia Tech is interested in learning more about the presentation of Universal Design in university-level design courses.  We are currently surveying instructors who teach design-related courses.  If you are an instructor in a design-related discipline such as human-computer interaction, biomedical engineering, industrial design, human factors, or rehabilitation engineering please complete the survey. 

During the 2014 spring semester, 83 industrial design students at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech participated in the Wireless RERC’s fifth annual “Getting Wireless” design challenge.

May 2014 – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy and the National Council on Disability (NCD) is holding a virtual town hall online to open dialogue regarding the importance of accessibility/usability as it relates to technology and universal design in newer “workplace technology products.” The virtual town hall, "Advancing Accessibility and Inclusion in Social Media — The Tech Industry Perspective," will take place from May 15^th through May 30^th.

February 2014 — Wireless RERC researcher, Jim Mueller, introduced the 5^th annual “Getting Wireless” universal design challenge to 29 second-year Industrial Design students at Virginia Tech (VT).  Along with the VT students, 40 second-year and 19 third-year Industrial Design students at GA Tech will begin the challenge in March.  The theme of the 2014 “Getting Wireless” challenge is wearable technologies.  Hands-on demonstrations of Google Glass will be provided to the students at the beginning of the project to offer them a starting point and encourage them to consider the divers

September 2013 – Wireless RERC Researchers Brian Jones and Carrie Bruce presented at the CDC Grand Rounds, discussing the Grand Rounds’ September theme of “Technology and Health: Aging Safely and More Independently.”  Brian’s discussion, entitled “Researching Technologies for Healthy Aging,” focused on technologies available for assisting older adults in living independently, while Carrie spoke on the applications of universal design in comparison with assistive devices in her discussion entitled “Supportive Design Strategies to Facilitate Function, Independence, and Safety.”