News Release

Wright State receives $3 million grant to study learning with disabilities

Grant and Award Announcement

Wright State University

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Wright State University a five-year, $3 million grant to establish a new integrated interdisciplinary research and education program for training doctoral students in methods for teaching students with disabilities. Students may elect the technology-based learning with disability concentration as part of one of the following Wright State Ph.D. programs: biomedical sciences; human factors/industrial organizational psychology; engineering; and computer science and engineering.

"A team of more than 20 faculty members from across campus will collaborate to train a new, hybrid cohort of doctoral students who can bridge the gap between disability, assistive technologies and the pedagogy of individualized learning," said Forouzan Golshani, Ph.D., NCR Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the principal investigator on the grant. "Wright State is uniquely qualified to house this important degree initiative. The university is already nationally recognized for serving the needs of those with severe and multiple disabilities. Our large population of students, faculty and staff with disabilities and our Office of Disability Services will provide our doctoral students ample opportunities to receive hands-on experience. Wright State's national leadership and legacy of success in developing accessible programs will assure both the recruitment and placement of highly qualified doctoral students, with the ultimate goal of providing national leadership at other institutions of higher education."

Program research will be conducted in three primary areas: the basic nature of human performance; the study of human-machine interactions; and pedagogy, or developing training systems and access to learning. Projects in these areas will study, design or create experiences for people with disabilities to overcome obstacles and barriers in their lives and learning.

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For more information, visit www.wright.edu/lwd/ or contact Golshani at forouzan.golshani@wright.edu or (937) 775-5131.


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