Presenter

Jon A. Sanford is a Research Professor and Research Director in the Department of Occupational Therapy at Georgia State University. He came to GSU from Georgia Tech where he was a Professor of Industrial Design and the Director of the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access. He is one of the few architecturally-trained researchers engaged in rehabilitation research and he is internationally-recognized for his expertise in universal design, accessible design and design for aging. He is the Georgia State Principal Investigator in the Rehabilitation Engineeing Research Center on Technologies for Successful Aging with Long-term Disabilities (RERC TechSAge), a 5-year grant funded by the US National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. His research has led to the development of new tools and products to promote aging in place, as well as to inform the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accessibility standards. He has over 300 scholarly presentations and publications and authored the textbook, “Design for the Ages: Universal Design as a Rehabilitation Strategy.” Professor Sanford has served on the boards of several organizations including the American Society on Aging and the Center for Aging Services Technologies and is currently a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Forum on Aging, Disability, and Independence. He received his Master of Architecture from Georgia Tech and undergraduate degrees in Psychology from Duke University and Architecture from Georgia Tech.