Two AccessComputing Students Receive Their Ph.D.s

Congratulations go out to Cindy Bennett and Rua William, two AccessComputing Team members, on completing their Ph.D. programs this academic year. Cindy’s dissertation, titled “Toward Centering Access in Professional Design,” explores the representation by people with disabilities in the design of accessible technology. She also created interventions that demonstrate best practices for including people with disabilities in the design of products that they benefit from. Cindy’s Ph.D. is from the University of Washington. Cindy is currently a postdoc at Carnegie Mellon University and Apple in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Rua’s dissertation is titled “MetaCogs: VR ToolKit for Executive Function Assessment and Metacognitive Strategy Development.” VR stands for virtual reality, and metacognition is about conscious beliefs and strategies related to personal management and goal setting. Their dissertation describes the design and implementation of a VR tool for real-time measurement of executive function and metacognitive strategy development. Rua’s degree is from the University of Florida. They begins a tenure track position in computer graphics and technology at Purdue University in the fall.