Bill Miller (Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of British Columbia)
Dr. Miller is a Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia. He pursued his undergraduate Occupational Therapy program at the University of British Columbia, followed by his M.Sc. and Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario and his Post-doctoral Fellowship at the University of British Columbia. As a CIHR Investigator scholar, Dr. Miller is able to dedicate 80% of his time to research. His research interests include wheeled mobility devices, determinants of wheelchair use, measurement tools (development and evaluation), balance and ambulation confidence, and assessment of assistive technology (e.g. wheeled mobility devices) used to enable mobility disabled adults (e.g. individuals with lower limb amputation, spinal cord injury, and stroke). Dr. Miller also provides research mentorship to both professional entry level MSc and PhD students. He is also involved with the American Journal of Occupational Therapy as an Editorial Board Member, and the CIHR Post-Doctoral Trainee Award Committee as a Reviewer.
Claudine Auger (Assistant Professor, Université de Montréal)
Dr. Auger is an emerging researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Research of Greater Montreal (CRIR) site Lucie-Bruneau Rehabilitation Center (QC). She is assistant professor in the Occupational Therapy Program of the School of Rehabilitation at Université de Montréal since 2013. Dr. Auger is an Occupational Therapist (McGill; 1988) who obtained her MSc and PhD in biomedical sciences (rehabilitation; 2005 and 2009) at Université de Montréal and completed a postdoctoral training in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McGill University (2010-2012) and Rehabilitation Sciences at University of British Columbia (2010-2012). Her research is focused on the measurement of rehabilitation outcomes in older adults (instrument validation and rehabilitation outcome indicators) and on the use of information technologies to systematically follow-up the impact of mobility assistive technologies and for persons with chronic conditions.
Louise Demers (School of Rehabilitation, Université de Montréal)
Dr. Demers is a Professor in the School of Rehabilitation at the Université de Montréal. After a few years in occupational therapy, Dr. Demers obtained her PhD in biomedical sciences (rehabilitation) at the Université de Montréal (1999). She then completed her postdoctoral training in epidemiology at McGill University (1999-2001). Subsequently she has been a scientist at the Research Centre of the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, Quebec, and Director of a laboratory on outcomes measures in geriatric rehabilitation and assistive technology. She is also a senior researcher funded by the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ) (2008-2012). Dr. Demers has authored many research articles related to assistive technology, outcomes measures, geriatric rehabilitation, and social participation.
Alan Mackworth (Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia)
Dr. Mackworth is currently a Professor of Computer Science and the Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Mackworth completed his B.A.Sc. in Toronto, his A.M. at Harvard University, and his D.Phil. at Sussex University. He works on constraint-based computational intelligence with applications assistive technology, vision, robotics and situations agents. He is known as a pioneer in the areas of constraint satisfaction, robot soccer and constraint-based agents. He has served as President of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and as President of the Canadian Society for Computational Studies of Intelligence (CSCSI now CAIAC). He has received the ITAC/NSERC Award for Academic Excellence, the Killam Research Prize, the CSCSI Distinguished Service Award and the Award for Research Excellence of the Association for Constraint Programming. He is a Fellow of AAAI, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Royal Society of Canada.
R. Lee Kirby (Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University)
Dr. Kirby received his MD degree from Dalhousie University. His specialty training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation was carried out at the University of Washington in Seattle, at Dalhousie University and at Stoke Mandeville in England. He is currently a Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with cross-appointments in Kinesiology and Biomedical Engineering. His clinical work and laboratory are in the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre Site of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre. His primary research interests relate to the safety and performance of wheelchairs. He heads a team that developed the Wheelchair Skills Program (www.wheelchairskillsprogram.ca), a low-tech, high-impact training program. He has held research grants from a number of national and international funding bodies and has published over 125 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Alex Mihailidis (Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto)
Gary E. Birch (Neil Squire Society, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of British Columbia)
Laura Hurd Clarke (School of Human Kinetics, University of British Columbia)
Dr. Clarke is an Associate Professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Career Investigator. Dr. Hurd Clarke holds an undergraduate degree in sociology from Queen’s University (B.A.H., 1992), a Master’s of social work degree from Wilfrid Laurier University (1996), and a Ph.D. in sociology from McMaster University (2000). She also held a CIHR Postdoctoral fellowship (2000-2003) in the School of Social Work and Family Studies at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Hurd Clarke’s research examines how social norms concerning gender, health, and later life mediate individuals’ experiences of aging, health and illness. Currently, she is investigating the relationships between multiple chronic conditions, body image, and social engagement among men and women aged 75+ (research funded by SSHRC and CIHR).
James J. Little (Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia)
Dr. Little is currently the Director of Laboratory for Computational Intelligence (LCI) and a Professor at the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. He studied at various institutes including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and the University of British Columbia. His research interest include building working vision systems both in robots and for using visual information for science, medicine, and other applications. Dr. Little is especially interested in early vision, understanding image sequences, and visually-guided mobile robotics.
Ian M. Mitchell (Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia)
Dr. Mitchell is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia. His research is focused on algorithms for designing, controlling, analyzing and verifying hybrid and cyber-physical systems, level set algorithms for time-dependent Hamilton-Jacobi partial differential equations (PDEs), marching and sweeping algorithms for static Hamilton-Jacobi PDEs, high quality, publically released implementations of these algorithms, and application of these algorithms to path planning and control of autonomous and collaborative systems.
Meeko Oishi (Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of New Mexico)
Dr. Oishi is an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She obtained her B.S.E. at Princeton University, M.Sc. at Stanford University, and her PhD at Stanford University, all in mechanical engineering. Her research focuses on hybrid systems and control, nonlinear systems and control, human-automation interaction, modeling and control for Parkinson’s disease, collaborative control for powered wheelchairs, and aircraft flight management systems.
Jan Miller Polgar (School of Occupational Therapy, University of Western Ontario)
Francois Routhier (Centre for interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (CIRRIS))
Dr. Routhier is Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Université Laval. He is also a Full Research at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (CIRRIS) at the “Institut de réadaptation en déficience physique de Québec (IRDPQ)”l. He has earned his B.Sc (1993) and M.Sc. (1997) in Mechanical Engineering at the Université Laval, and subsequently his Ph.D. (2004) in Experimental Medicine at the CIRRIS. Dr. Routhier’s research interest is in assistive technologies (impact assessment, development, etc.), wheelchair skills training and assessment, development and validation of tools/methods of clinical/research assessment and training/education, development and evaluation of interventions with users of assistive devices, and social participation of assistive technology users. His most recent research projects are called “Towards Intervention Focusing on Community Living and Quality of Life for Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury” and “Impact of Wheelchair Skills on Social Participation of Spinal Cord Manual Wheelchair Users.
Bonita J. Sawatzky (Department of Orthopaedics, University of British Columbia)
Dr. Sawatzky is an Associate Professor at the UBC Department of Orthopaedics. Her research interests have included studying the biomechanics and morphology of spinal deformities and functional outcomes of treatment for children with gait and mobility disabilities. She currently focuses on studying the physiological and biomechanical effects during wheelchair propulsion. The prevalence of upper extremity pain in wheelchair users is reported as high as 90% due to the repetitive strain type of exercise of wheelchair propulsion. Dr. Sawatzky’s research is focusing on how to reduce these overuse injuries and pain by specifically looking at which wheelchair type, set-up and skills most efficient for the user. She is also interested in finding ways to reduce spasticity in those with spinal cord injuries using mobility devices such as the segway or adaptations to wheelchairs.
Cher Smith (Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax)
Cher Smith BSc OT, MSc is an occupational therapist who is a member of the DalhousieUniversity Wheelchair Research Team and acts as the Seating and Mobility Coordinatorat the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is also an adjunct professor in the School of Occupational Therapy at Dalhousie University. Shehas been working as an OT in research, clinical and educational work for the past 13 years. In 2002, Cher was awarded the Mundy Award by the Canadian Adaptive Seating and Mobility Association. She has presented to local and international audiences.
Joelle Pineau (Department of Computer Science, McGill University)
Joelle Pineau is Associate Professor of Computer Science at McGill University, where she heads the Reasoning and Learning Laboratory. She received her PhD (2004) and MSc (2000) in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, and her B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo (1998). Her research focuses on developing new methodologies in artificial intelligence, statistical machine learning, and robotics. She is a founding member of two multi-disciplinary ventures aimed at developing prototype robotic assistants for elderly and disabled individuals: the Nursebot project (2000-2004) and the SmartWheeler project (2005-ongoing). She is also actively exploring the application of machine learning techniques to optimize dynamic treatment regimes for chronic illnesses.
