CANCELLED

Topic: “Autism, Neurodiversity and the University Experience”

This event has been cancelled.

Dean Michele Marcolongo of the Villanova University College of Engineering invites you to attend a special seminar with Dean Gregory Abowd of Northeastern University.

Dean Abowd personally outlines his seminar: “Since 1998, autism has been a prominent factor in my personal life, and by 2002 it had become a defining topic for my professional life as well. In this talk, I am going to give a brief overview of my history as a researcher in autism from the human-centered computing perspective, a career that has transitioned from researcher to entrepreneur to advocate. When I moved to Northeastern University in March 2021, I realized there was a wonderful opportunity to address one of the pressing needs of neurodiverse adults, being able to secure a meaningful career that takes advantage of the individual's strengths in a safe and appreciative environment. In the summer of 2023, Northeastern’s College of Engineering launched a Neurodiversity Initiative, one goal of which is to leverage the university’s world-class co-op program to address employment for our neurodiverse student population. I will describe some of the pillars of our approach and how we are working with other universities to address this challenge at a national level.”

Gregory D. Abowd is the dean of the College of Engineering at Northeastern University, where he is also a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering with affiliate appointments in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences and the Bouvé College of Health Sciences. Prior to joining Northeastern in March 2021, Dr. Abowd was a faculty member in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology for more than 26 years. His research falls largely in the area of Human-Computer Interaction with an emphasis on applications and technology development for mobile and ubiquitous computing in everyday settings. His research has introduced innovations in the classroom, the home, for stakeholders connected with autism and other chronic health conditions, and sustainable forms of computing in everyday life. For his research accomplishments he has been recognized as an ACM Fellow (2008), as an ACM SIGCHI Academy member (2008) and with the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award (2023). In 2008, he founded the Atlanta Autism Consortium, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing engagement across stakeholder communities. For his work in autism as both a researcher and community organizer, he received the 2008 ACM SIGCHI Social Impact Award (2007), the ACM Eugene Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within Computer Science and Informatics (2009), and the State of Georgia Outstanding Achievement Award for Autism (2017). Dr. Abowd earned his bachelor of science in Honors Mathematics (summa cum laude) from the University of Notre Dame in 1986 as well as a master of science (1987) and doctor of philosophy (1991) in Computation from the University of Oxford, where he attended as a Rhodes Scholar.