People

	Maya Cakmak Maya Cakmak (PI) is an associate professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington with a specialization in human-robot interaction. Since arriving at UW in 2013, she has been active with the DO-IT Center through multiple projects, including being a co-PI of the NSF-funded project AccessEngineering and leading several one-week summer workshops in the DO-IT Scholars summer program. She has also worked with AccessComputing leading a small research group in a GoogleCSR-funded workshop for undergraduate women with disabilities. Her research includes projects on assistive robotics for people with severe motor disabilities. She is the winner of the 2022 Anita Borg Early Career Award for advancing innovation and broadening participation in human-centered robotics.
	Brianna Blaser Brianna Blaser (co-PI and director) focuses on direct interventions for individuals with disabilities and working with faculty, employers, and other stakeholders to create institutional change. Blaser has a PhD in women studies and a background in diversity and career development in STEM education and careers.
	Stacy Branham Stacy Branham (co-PI) is an associate professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine. Her research, teaching, and service seek to empower disabled students in computing so they can become tomorrow’s technology innovators and leaders. Branham runs an annual outreach event called AccessUCI, to propel disabled high schoolers into college computing. Branham joined the AccessComputing leadership team in 2021.
	Raja Kushalnagar Raja Kushalnagar (co-PI) is a professor; director of the B.S. in Information Technology Program; co-director of the M.S.and Ph.D. in the Accessible Human-Centered Computing Program; and director of the Artificial Intelligence, Accessibility and Sign Languages Center at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. He has mentored over 130 undergraduates, including over 60 who are deaf or hard of hearing and has published nearly 100 articles. Raja focuses on increasing the numbers of people with disabilities in the computing pipeline through community involvement. Kushalnagar joined the AccessComputing leadership team in 2021.
	Elaine Schaertl Short Elaine Schaertl Short (co-PI) is a Clare Boothe Luce assistant professor within the Departments of Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University. She is the PI of the Assistive Agent Behavior and Learning (AABL) Lab, and her work focuses on lies at the intersection of assistive technology and social robotics, focusing on developing robots that can support people in achieving their goals. Short joined the AccessComputing leadership team in 2021.
	Amy Ko Amy Ko (senior personnel) studies equitable, liberatory learning about computing and information, in schools and beyond, drawing from human-computer interaction, computing education, software engineering, programming languages, learning sciences, behavioral sciences, sociology, and more. She is a professor and associate dean for academics at the University of Washington Information School, with a courtesy appointment in Computer Science & Engineering.
	Scott Bellman Scott Bellman is the director of the DO-IT Center at the UW. His primary interests relate to career development and transition to college for people with disabilities.
	Kayla Brown Kayla Brown (program coordinator) has a masters of social work from the University of Washington and is currently working towards a doctorate in Seattle University's Educational and Organizational learning and Leadership program. Her passion is community outreach, research, and disability activism. She currently manages the AccessComputing team and activities involving students with disabilities.
	Lyla Crawford Lyla Crawford (internal evaluator and program coordinator) works with the external evaluator. She has a master's degree in developmental psychology.
	Terrill Thompson Terrill Thompson (accessibility consultant) is manager of the IT Accessibility Team at the University of Washington, a role in which he and his team work to promote IT accessibility by building community, developing resources, delivering lectures and workshops, conducting accessibility evaluations, and providing consultation and support to a wide variety of constituents. Terrill has been supporting digital accessibility efforts at the UW for nearly 25 years and has served as a digital accessibility consultant for AccessComputing since its original NSF grant in 2006.
	Richard Ladner Richard Ladner (founding PI and ongoing advisor) is a professor emeritus in computer science and engineering at the UW. In addition to organizing programs for students with disabilities in computing, his research interests include accessibility technology research, especially technology for people who are deaf, deaf-blind, hard-of-hearing, and blind.
	Elizabeth Woolner Elizabeth Woolner (publications and website coordinator) creates, organizes, and manages the products and resources created for the project. She has a bachelor's in English and a certificate in editing, both from the University of Washington.