Center on Knowledge Translation for Technology Transfer
University at Buffalo (SUNY)
Joseph P. Lane, MBPA - Mr. Lane is Director, Center for Assistive Technology and is Dean’s Liaison for Program Development. Through the T2RERC, he established an expert team representing all stakeholder groups over three funding cycles. His trans-sector approach to R&D generated publications and presentations at academic, industry and government forums.
Each funding cycle generated a single major publication summarizing the model, method and measure practices advanced during that timeframe. From 1993 to 1998 this was the invention and innovation processes, the role of intellectual property ownership, and first articulated the Technology Transfer Model in use today. From 1998 to 2003 this was the three transfer strategies of Supply Push, Demand Pull and Corporate Collaboration. From 2003 to 2008 this was the evidence-based outputs and outcomes from other RERCs to identify what practices worked or didn’t work and why. Mr. Lane will lead Project R2 as well as providing overall project management.
Vathsala I. Stone, PhD – Dr. Stone has been a member of the T2RERC team for eleven years. She is Co-PI for the Product Efficacy Studies and Program Evaluator. Dr. Stone brings prior KT experience from consulting for educational and social programs, such as translating a UNICEF program evaluation tool for use by street educators, and designing training kits for distance learning. Dr. Stone is qualified to lead two projects. For Project R1 she will ensure the rigor and relevance of the literature reviews and apply appropriate analysis for the publications reviewed and contexts referenced. For Project R3 she will apply her experience in all facets of planning, implementation and evaluation to construct an overall knowledge translation strategy for implementing the intervention as well as the utilization program, and for evaluating the uptake and use of best practices by Knowledge Producer and Knowledge User systems. As our internal Program Evaluator, Dr. Stone will coordinate and guide the quality and timeliness of the defined DRRP outputs and outcomes.
Machiko R. Tomita, PhD - Dr. Tomita is a Senior Graduate Faculty member at the University at Buffalo. She is the Director of Aging and Technology Projects that are comprised of several research grants related to aging, funded federally from the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (USDE) and the National Institute of Aging (NIH), and also funded by the Japan Society of Promoting Science, and local organizations.
Her current research includes testing the effectiveness of e-health to provide health support for self-management of chronic conditions among various geriatric populations such as patients with congestive heart failure, spinal cord injury, depression, and arthritis. Also, she conducts a research study of caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease and creating instruments for community health including quality of life and independent living among older adults. Other research projects include: Effectiveness of wellness computer network among home-based frail elders; Smart house in collaboration with RERC-Tech Aging (University of Florida); Creation of national management database for Centers for Independent Living in collaboration with RRTC-IRM (Independent Living Project in Western New York ); Creation of instrument for independent living in collaboration with RRTC-IRM; and Creation of instrument for Universal Design application for toys for Let's Play Projects.
James A. Leahy, BS – In 1993, Mr. Leahy brought twenty years of industrial product design, development and project management to the T2RERC. He has led the Supply Push transfer program which led our transfer successes. He created the Corporate Collaboration program where we partner with Fortune 500 companies (e.g., Black & Decker, White Rodgers, and Whirlpool) to improve the access and use of new mainstream products. He has created partnerships between major corporations and other RERCs. Mr. Leahy's experience reviewing over one thousand prototypes and successfully commercializing nearly fifty devices qualifies him to lead Project D1 where he will continue to generate new product outcomes from original R&D and where he will demonstrate effective TT practices to NIDRR grantees, and these grantees will function as participant/observers. He will also be the lead for Technical Assistance performed by the DRRP.
Susan M. Arnold, BS – Ms. Arnold will support the PI in the administrative duties and support all programs with web design. She joined the Center for Assistive Technology (CAT) in 2001 as administrator and split her time to support Dr. Bauer on the T2RERC. She previously spent fifteen years as an administrator within a UB industry-university cooperative research program on bio-surfaces.
Michael Anton Sciortino, JD, MS - Mr. Sciortino currently leads the specification and supervision of development of administrative systems to automate data reporting, process flow, personnel management, prospective student communications, and financial tracking; works with faculty to implement online systems; and manages the school’s family of websites. Mr. Sciortino has twelve years of experience with web systems administration and development including project management, e-commerce, website development, database design and integration, and web accessibility. His technical expertise includes web/database integration (MySQL, Oracle), web programming (PHP, CGI, PERL, ASP, JavaScript), web standards (HTML, CSS), website/data security, and accessibility compliance (WCAG).
Western New York Independent Living Inc.
Douglas A. Usiak, BS - Mr. Usiak has been Executive Director of WNY Independent Living for the past 25 years. He was PI for the RRTC on Independent Living Management from 2000-2006. The WNYIL Family of Agencies serves persons with all types of disabilities, employs about 250 consumers, and operates programs through eighteen sources of revenue. He has been a Co-PI on the T2RERC since its inception, leading our dissemination efforts, co-directing the efficacy studies and facilitating all consumer groups. Mr. Usiak will lead the Dissemination and Training Projects and will serve as liaison to SEDL for the organization and infrastructure for utilization activities.
Jennifer Flagg, BS - Jennifer Flagg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Management, with a concentration in Marketing from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Since 2001, Jennifer has worked in the field of technology transfer, collaborating with RERC’s, SBIR applicants and grantees, and assistive technology consumers to transfer new technologies for people with disabilities into the marketplace. Ms. Flagg developed first-hand experience in new product development practices by performing extensive primary and secondary market research, developing business and marketing plans, and offering SBIR grant writing and consulting services to companies and inventors in the assistive technology marketplace. She has collaborated in the development of funded SBIR proposals across agencies, including the Department of Education, the National Institute of Health, and the National Science Foundation. She is responsible for the execution of Research Project 1 for the Center on KT for TT, and will lead the systematic review of knowledge translation literature.
Michelle Lockett, MBA - Michelle Lockett holds a BA in Psychology from Ithaca College, NY and MBA from Canisius College, NY. Michelle began working with the RERC on Technology Transfer as the Consumer Testing Coordinator for the WNY Independent Living Project in 2005, where she was responsible for recruiting consumers and coordinating other logistical aspects of focus groups. Within the KT4TT, she is involved with instrument development, and conducting and analyzing intervention studies. She also maintains the consumer and knowledge databases. Michelle previously worked as a Market Research Analyst in the newspaper industry (Buffalo News) and the retail food industry (Tops Markets, LLC). She also has experience as a Customer Relationship Marketing Manager for Tops Markets.
SEDL
John D. Westbrook, PhD – Dr. Westbrook is Program Manager for SEDL's Disability Research to Practice initiative which includes the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR). Over 26 years, he has managed numerous disability and rehabilitation. His expertise includes information dissemination and utilization and knowledge translation. Dr. Westbrook will Chair the Advisory Board and advise the Utilization Program.
Joann Starks – Director of Dissemination & Training - Ms. Starks is a Program Associate within NCDDR where she directs survey activities and develops/edits technical assistance products and reports. She is liaison to the community of practice on Research Quality and to the Task Force on Systematic Review. Her expertise include Communities of Practice, evidence-based guidelines and systematic reviews of disability research, copyright issues, and electronic information systems. Ms. Starks will also support the Utilization Programs.
CIRRIE
John Stone, Ph.D. is the Director of the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE), a NIDRR funded DRRP program whose mission is to facilitate the sharing of information and expertise between rehabilitation researchers in the U.S. and those in other countries (http://cirrie.buffalo.edu/). The project developed a database of 77,643 published articles on rehabilitation research conducted outside the U.S. Also as part of the CIRRIE project he served as the Editor of a 13-volume monograph series on the cultures of persons with disabilities who have immigrated to the U.S. from other countries, as well as a newly published book, Culture and Disability: Providing Culturally Competent Services (SAGE Publications). Dr. Stone will support Project D2, Knowledge Base and Toolkit for KT and TT.
Marcia Daumen, MLS, MS Since CIRRIE’s inception in 1999, Ms. Daumen has worked as its Information Resources Manager. She directs the expansion of the database of international research and the addition of new features and outreach projects to increase utilization. Ms Daumen has participated in most meetings of the NIDRR KDU projects and understands the philosophy and tools required of them, including the requirements for accessibility, quality criteria and research synthesis. She previously served as a Reference Librarian at the Health Sciences Library, and the Outreach Librarian for the Information Access for Public Health project. Mrs. Daumen will support Project D2, Knowledge Base.
Dan Conley, MLS - Mr. Conley is the webmaster for the CIRRIE, responsible for ensuring all content is published in a fully accessible format. He designed the database of citations and all associated processes and Oracle scripts. Additionally, he programmed the framework for the International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation. Mr. Conley will support Project D2, Knowledge Base and Toolkit for KT and TT.
