Speaker Bios
Jeff Grabill, Ph.D., Co-Director, MSU WIDE Research
Center and Associate Professor, Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures
Grabill is interested in how people write together to do the "knowledge work" of
their everyday lives. He locates his work at the intersection of professional and
technical writing, rhetorical theory, and literacy theory. Grabill is the author
of Community Literacy Programs and the Politics of Change (SUNY, 2001)
and the forthcoming Writing Community Change: Designing Technologies for Citizen
Action (Hampton, 2007). He has also published articles in College Composition
and Communication, Technical Communication Quarterly, Computers and
Composition, and English Education.
Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus, President, Michigan Usability
Professionals' Association
Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus has designed user interfaces for hand-helds, kiosks, Web
sites, and production machines, and has conducted evaluations in the lab, on the
Web, in the field, and in the homes of consumers. He currently lead's Compuware's
Usability and Interaction Design group whose mission is to improve usability and
standardize user interfaces across Compuware's products. Mitropoulos-Rundus is a
frequent conference presenter and user interface design instructor, and authored
a chapter in Design by People for People. He is an active member of ACM
SIG-CHI, HFES, STC, UPA and Uxnet. Mitropoulos-Rundus currently serves on the UPA
International Board of Directors and is also the current president of the Michigan
UPA. Mitropoulos-Rundus has a master's degree in human factors psychology from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute.
Sarah J. Swierenga, Director, MSU Usability &
Accessibility Center
Swierenga, Ph.D., C.P.E. is the director of the Usability & Accessibility Center
at Michigan State University. A researcher and a practitioner with 20 years of experience
in the scientific study of users in commercial, military, and academic environments,
she possesses extensive skills in user interface design, data collection tools,
and methodologies including usability tests, accessibility compliance evaluations,
questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and expert evaluations. She also co-authored
Constructing Accessible Web Sites (APress, 2003), and has presented widely
on accessible Web site design, usability techniques, and health communication technology,
and e-learning effectiveness, which comprise her research programs.
Susan Burton, Executive Director, Society for Technical
Communication
Burton has a 30-year track record of association management successes. She has worked
for a wide variety of trade and professional associations, most recently as president
and CEO of the American College of Health Care Administrators, changing the culture
to be more responsive, open, and transparent. She has served as the interim CEO
for three associations. Prior to these assignments, Burton was the first paid CEO
of the Vision Council of America (VCA), which started as a desk in a law office.
Under her leadership, VCA grew to a $7 million association with the second largest
trade show on the globe. VCA's public awareness program won prestigious American
Society of Association Executives and Public Relations Society of America awards
for increasing consumer awareness of the importance of eye care and eyewear. Burton
has experience with every major functional area in association management. She has
a B.A. in American history and education and an M.A. in Chinese history, and she
earned the highest score in the nation when she became a Certified Association Executive
(CAE) in 1984.
Christopher Hunter, Director, Division on Deaf and Hard
of Hearing (DODHH), Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns, Michigan Department
of Labor and Economic Growth
Hunter graduated from the California School for the Deaf in Riverside. He received
his bachelor's degree from Gallaudet University and a master's degree in education
administration and supervision from California State University, Northridge. Hunter
taught deaf students at the Idaho State School for the Deaf and Blind in Gooding
for seven years and administered a program of supportive services to deaf and hard
of hearing students at the William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, IL, for five
years before coming to Michigan in 1980 to take the DODHH director position. He
has been adjunct professor of American sign language at Michigan State University
since 1980. Hunter's talents and skills include public presentations, storytelling
and joke telling, pantomime, and computers. He has been married for 38 years to
Annella, who is also deaf, and they have six grown hearing children.
Chad Esselink, Team Supervisor, IT Creative Design
and Usability Team, Ford;
and IT Creative Design and Usability Team: Martin Rutyna (Project Manager), Eric
Schrage (Usability Specialist), Mike Mistak (Graphic Designer)
The Ford IT Creative Design and Usability team is integrated into the Ford software
development process and provides user interface design and evaluation services to
multiple divisions within Ford. Usability specialists and graphic designers on the
Creative Design and Usability team work together to strengthen the quality of user
interface design and to improve the user experience in all aspects of our business.
Timothy Keirnan, Producer and Co-Host, Design Critique:
Products for People
Timothy Keirnan is co-founder of the Michigan chapter of the Usability Professionals'
Association and creator of Design Critique: Products for People, a podcast
that encourages user-centered design for a better customer experience. He holds
a bachelor's in audio engineering from SUNY at Fredonia and a master's in scientific
and technical communication from Miami University, where he studied under Robert
Johnson, author of User-Centered Technology. After spending many years
in consultancies helping clients improve the user experience of their products,
Keirnan currently works "on the inside" of the IT department in a life insurance
company in Michigan. He is a member of the Usability Professionals' Association,
has spoken at multiple UPA conferences and local chapter meetings over the years,
and is an active member of a local Toastmasters club.
Tom Brinck, Creative Director, A9.com and Co-Host, Design
Critique: Products for People
Tom Brinck is the creative director at A9.com, a subsidiary of Amazon.com that develops
search technologies for e-commerce applications. He is co-author of the book Usability
for the Web. Tom recently relocated to Palo Alto, California, after 13
years in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was the co-founder of a Web design and usability
firm, Diamond Bullet Design, and an adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan's
School of Information.
Paul A. Green, Ph.D., Research Professor, Human Factors
Division, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), and
Adjunct Associate Professor, Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE)
Green has spent most of his professional career studying how people drive and how
to make driving safer and easier, as well as teaching courses on human factors engineering.
His research has concerned driver workload, navigation system design, motor vehicle
controls and displays, and person-computer interaction, research that makes extensive
use of instrumented cars and the UMTRI driving simulator. He has led the development
of and managed all three generations of UMTRI's driving simulator. He was the lead
author of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) recommended practices concerning
navigation system design (the "15-second rule," SAE J2364) and design compliance
calculations (SAE J2365). Over the last 25 years, within IOE, he has been teaching
the ergonomics laboratory, human-computer interaction, and automotive human factors
classes. In addition, he is co-leader of the Human Factors Engineering Short Course
(now in its 48th year), the flagship continuing education class in the profession.
Green has a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University and three
degrees from the University of Michigan, including a joint Ph.D. in IOE and psychology.
Professionally, he is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and chair
of its Publications Committee, a fellow of the Ergonomics Society, and a member
of the Society of Automotive Engineers, the ITS-America Safety and Human Factors
Committee, and other organizations. He is a past secretary-treasurer of the Human
Factors and Ergonomics Society and a former member of its Executive Committee and
Executive Council.
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