Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities
Overview of Activities
The mission of the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities is to catalyze and integrate advances in science, engineering, and technology to promote the quality of life and independent living of people with cognitive disabilities. Over 23 million people in the U.S. alone are affected by impaired cognitive function such as intellectual disabilities, brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and serious, persistent mental illness. An estimated 345,000 persons in Colorado have cognitive disabilities.
The University of Colorado System established the Coleman Institute in 2001 as a result of a substantial endowment from Bill and Claudia Coleman of San Jose, California. The Colemans also provide annual gifts to fund the operating and research expenditures of the Institute through the Coleman Colorado Foundation [CCF], which was established to receive gifts from the donors. The CCF is a 501 (c) (3) public charity classified as a 509 (a) (3) supporting organization to the University of Colorado [CU] to support the Coleman Institute. The Executive Director of the Institute is David Braddock, PhD, who is also Associate Vice President of the University of Colorado System [CU] and holds the Coleman-Turner Chair in the School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. The Associate Director is Enid Ablowitz, an experienced advancement officer who continues to serve as an internal consultant and Vice President for Strategic Philanthropy of the University of Colorado Foundation. Professor Clayton Lewis, PhD, Professor of Computer Science, is the Institute's Scientist in Residence.
Principal activities of the Institute include:
- Research and development support to faculty and students on the Anschutz Medical Campus [AMC], University of Colorado Boulder [UCB], University of Colorado Colorado Springs [UCCS], and University of Colorado Denver [UCD] campuses;
- A fellowship program for faculty, postdoctoral students, and graduate students;
- The Annual Coleman Institute Conference on Cognitive Disability and Technology; and
- Public policy advocacy and outreach on cognitive disability and technology.
Research and Development Support
The primary activity of the Institute is to provide grants for cognitive disability and technology research and development to CU faculty on all campuses of the university. Since its inception, the Institute has provided more than 150 grants for seed funding and/or laboratory support for research, matching funds to assist CU faculty in securing significant research funding from Federal and private agencies, and support for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students to pursue their research careers. In addition, the Institute has provided support for special projects involving academic initiatives and mission-related conference support.
A major investment of the Coleman Institute has been in the co-funding of two federal government center grants from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research [NIDRR]. In 2004, NIDRR initiated funding for the nation's first Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for the Advancement of Cognitive Technologies [RERC-ACT]. In a peer reviewed national competition, the University of Colorado succeeded in securing the Center. In 2009, the grant was re-competed. Once again, the University of Colorado succeeded. The combined federal grants exceed $9 million and the combined commitment by the Coleman Institute for RERC-ACT I (2004-2009) and RERC-ACT II (2009-2014) was over $1.6 million. Cathy Bodine, Associate Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Anschutz Medical Center continues to serve as principal investigator.
The RERC-ACT I incorporated 13 separate projects on the AMC, UCB, UCCS, and UCD campuses in nine different academic units. Research partners from four other research universities in Illinois, California, Michigan and Kansas also participated. Other collaborators included the Institute for Matching Persons and Technology, Inc., AbleLink Technologies, Inc., AT Sciences, LLC, and CaringFamily. Projects fell into five categories: needs assessment projects; community living and technology; health, family support and technology; education, employment and technology; and technology standards development.
RERC-ACT II builds on past successes and introduces new elements of research and development of cognitive technologies across the life span. Efforts are focused in three main areas: creating a product usability testing facility to focus rigorous industry-standard product testing protocols on cognitive assistive technology, developing a core software/sensor platform to support mobile animated agents used for multiple applications, and developing infrastructure standards, long considered an important missing link for information technology access by people with cognitive disabilities.
From non-linear job coaching to Socially Assistive Robots, the projects are challenging, creative, and show great promise in improving quality of life for people with cognitive disabilities, their families and their caregivers.
The RERC-ACT centers are not the only recipients of Coleman Institute funding. The Institute has also supported research and development across a broad spectrum including "smart" transportation systems, "smart" home residential care systems, a personal digital assistant [PDA] based speech training program for children with Down syndrome and patients with Parkinson's, recreation technology adapted for people with cognitive disabilities, computer-based technology for teaching reading to students with cognitive limitations, and web-based resources for teachers, parents, and students with disabilities in the public schools. Funding has also been provided for software solutions that map on to new open source opportunities, like Google's Android project, and initiatives to promote accessibility to the World Wide Web for people with cognitive disabilities, including policy and regulatory issues, single sign-on system, content adjustments, and specialized user support. As a result, the Institute has a national presence in the area of cognitive technology on the Web, especially in the development of standards and in helping to set policy directions.
The Institute supports research and development projects on a wide variety of other kinds of technologies and applications. Advances have been made in areas such as batteryless-wireless power for sensors and devices. Biomedical science and technology projects funded by the Institute include a drug delivery system for conditions such as schizophrenia and epilepsy, immunological studies of AIDS/HIV with potential pharmacological interventions, the development of bio-compatible electrodes for in vivo recording and stimulation in the brain using Cellular Engineering Micro Systems and wireless telemetry, an investigation of drugs to prevent decline in cognitive function, and non-human stem cell research in a mouse model of Down syndrome.
The Coleman Institute works with faculty and the University's Office of Technology Transfer [TTO] to encourage commercialization of research and development-generated intellectual property for the benefit of people with cognitive disabilities and in some cases, for the advancement of biomedical and biotechnical applications with wider society benefit as well. The Institute also participates in partial ownership of the intellectual property based on invested grant funds to faculty who also have other grant funding. Two of the Institute's funded projects have been leveraged with investments through the State of Colorado and the University of Colorado TTO's Bioscience Discovery Evaluation Grant Program and a third received a Proof of Concept grant from TTO directly.
Fellowship Program
A primary activity of the Institute is to award Coleman Institute Graduate Student Fellowships. Many of these fellowships are tied to federally funded research grants and are awarded as a leveraging match to augment competitive faculty proposals. Dozens of graduate students have been supported by the Coleman Institute through the matching program, and Coleman Graduate Fellows are often named as part of a capacity-building commitment. One key example of this approach is the focused effort to provide critical funding for graduate fellowships to support the establishment of the PhD program in Geropsychology at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs [UCCS] and to ensure its continuing success through an initiative in Aging and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities. Another example of such funding has been a matching commitment made to the National Institutes of Health [NIH]-funded Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center at the School of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus. Several Coleman Institute Graduate Student Fellows have completed their programs and earned PhD degrees, with others still in various stages of completion.
In addition to awards for graduate studies, the Institute also provides support for Coleman Institute Postdoctoral Fellowships, Coleman Institute Faculty Fellowships, and the Coleman Scientist in Residence Clayton Lewis, PhD, who is also Professor of Computer Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder [UCB].
Annual Conferences on Cognitive Disability and Technology
The Coleman Institute annual conference is a signature Institute activity with a university, regional, and national reputation. Institute Executive Director David Braddock, PhD, has organized and chaired ten conferences since the Institute's founding in 2001. Poster sessions on cognitive technology topics are at the heart of the conferences. CU faculty and students display their research, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration across CU's campuses and with research partners worldwide. These sessions highlight progress and stimulate academic discourse involving colleagues from other research universities. In addition, the speakers, panelists and participants at these conferences represent a diverse community of concern where knowledge and insight are shared not only by academics, but also by leaders in government, industry and the disabilities communities including parents, advocates and service providers.
The 2011 Coleman Institute Conference
STATE OF THE STATES, STATE OF THE NATION: 2011, A Coleman Institute National Conference on Cognitive Disability and Technology in Challenging Economic Environments, was held October 13, 2011 at the Westin Westminster Hotel in Westminster, Colorado.
The theme of the day was: "the economic perspectives on disability as they relate to federal funding, the state budgets, the impacts on people with cognitive disabilities, and the role technology can play." Conference co-sponsors included ANCOR, NCCBH, The ARC of the US and Alliance Colorado.
Distinguished speakers and panelists included:
- Peter Blanck, PhD, JD, Chairman, Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University
- David Braddock, PhD, Chair of Conference, Associate VP, University of Colorado
- Ann Cameron Caldwell, PhD, Chief Research and Innovations Officer, The Arc of the US
- Bill Coleman, founding donor, partner, Alsop-Louie Partners, San Francisco
- Diane Coyle, PhD, renowned economist, internationally acclaimed author of The Economics of Enough: How to Run an Economy as if the Future Matters, Princeton University Press
- Mark Emery, CEO, Imagine! Colorado
- James F. Gardner, PhD, President and CEO, The Council on Quality and Leadership
- K. Charlie Lakin, PhD, Director, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
- Sharon Lewis, Commissioner, Administration on Developmental Disabilities, US Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS]
- William Pound, Executive Director, National Conference of State Legislatures
- Jo Ann Simons, Board Chair, National Down Syndrome Society
- Sue Swenson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitation Services
- Nancy Thaler, Executive Director, National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities
- Special Guest: Bruce Benson, President, University of Colorado
Pre-Conference Roundtable, October 12
On October 12, 2011, the Institute, in partnership with the Administration on Developmental Disabilities and the CU Law School's Silicon Flatirons Center hosted a Pre-Conference Roundtable on "Implications of Cloud Computing for Residential Supports and Community Services" which brought together leaders from industry, education, public policy, disability, advocacy, and government with a shared interest in shaping technology infrastructures, accessibility and applications to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, particularly those with cognitive disabilities, and their families. The Pre-Conference Roundtable was for invited participants only.
Silicon Flatirons is a center supporting the Coleman Institute's work in technology and technology access. Dale Hatfield at Silicon Flatirons has been a leader in accessible technology, including participation in the establishment of the Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure.
Topics at the Pre-Conference Roundtable included cloud technology, cognitive accessibility, standards for design, configurability, regulatory issues and consumer guidance. Watch for the release of the White Paper on the dialogue and ideation of the group.
Click here to view the 2010 Pre-Conference Implications of Cloud Computing for People with Cognitive Disabilities
Related activities: Alliance Colorado Six State Summit, October 12 and ANCOR Technology Leadership Summit October 14
The Institute again enthusiastically welcomed ANCOR as a conference co-sponsor and added a new partner, Alliance Colorado. Alliance hosted its six states conference on October 12th and ANCOR will host its third annual Technology Leadership Summit on October 14th. For more information about these conference-related events, please contact: dlangseth@ancor.org or kkampbell@alliancecolorado.org.
2001-2010 Conferences
Agendas, a full list of speakers, and links to presentations and posters for all previous Coleman institute conferences is available on the Annual Conferences page of the Institute's web site.
Past conference speakers have included:
- Michael Bérubé, PhD, Paterno Family Professor in English Literature and Science, Technology and Society at Pennsylvania State University and author of Life as We Know It, 2008;
- John Seeley Brown, Chief Scientist, Xerox Corporation, 2002;
- Vinton Cerf, currently Chief Technology Officer at Google, Inc., (and co-designer of the protocols and architecture of the Internet), 2004;
- Bill Coleman, Founder and former CEO, BEA Systems, Founder and CEO of Cassatt, Inc. and Claudia Coleman, founding donors of the Coleman Institute, 2001-2007;
- Robert Freedman, MD, Chair, CU Department of Psychiatry, 2002;
- James K. Galbraith, PhD, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations, Professor of Government, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas Austin, 2009;
- Thomas K. Gilhool, JD, Former Chief Counsel, Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia; former Secretary of Education, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and legal champion who argued the seminal case in 1971 that established the right of children with intellectual disabililites to a public education, 2010;
- Temple Grandin, PhD, Professor, Colorado State University; NY Times best-selling author of Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism, and Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior; 2006;
- Raymond Kurzweil, inventor and entrepreneur, 2003;
- Jay Lundell, PhD, Digital Health Group, Intel Corporation, 2009;
- Robert Pasternack, Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, United States Department of Education, 2003;
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Executive VP, Kennedy Foundation, 2005;
- Timothy Shriver, PhD, Chairman of the Board, International Special Olympics, 2005;
- Steven Tingus, Director, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, 2004, 2002; and
- Mary Woolley, President and CEO, Research! America, 2004.
Public Policy Advocacy and Outreach
The Coleman Institute has influenced program development and funding for research in cognitive technologies not just at CU but nationally. Professor of Psychiatry and Institute Director David Braddock, successfully advocated for the federal government to authorize a new funding source dedicated to cognitive technologies research and development. This initiative was authorized in 2003 through the federal government's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research [NIDRR]. The subsequent national, peer-reviewed competition led to CU being competitively awarded the nation's first Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for the Advancement of Cognitive Technologies in 2004. The Center was recently competitively refunded at the CU School of Medicine through 2014. The total funding for the Center is over $10 million dollars, with the Institute's contribution at over $1.6 million.
The Institute has also been an effective agent to bring constituencies together nationally and internationally to advance awareness, advocacy and resources related to cognitive disability and technology. Executive Director David Braddock speaks frequently on issues involving quality of life for people with cognitive disabilities and on the role of technology in this emerging field. Since joining CU in August 2001, he has given over 100 invited public lectures and keynote addresses in university and conference settings. Audiences have included CU alumni groups, state legislatures, international, national, state and community organizations, and disability and technology constituencies in 48 states and the District of Columbia, and in seven foreign countries: Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Sweden and United Arab Emirates. The Institute's public policy activities have also included consultation with the federal government's President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, congressional and agency staff, and the Colorado Legislature. The annual Coleman Institute conferences on cognitive disability and technology include a highly regarded roundtable workshop on cognitive accessibility on the web which has included topics like the implications of cloud computing and which draws attorneys, policy makers and service providers. The Institute's scientist in residence, Professor Clayton Lewis, of the University of Colorado Boulder Computer Science Department, serves on national and international committees engaged in technical, usability and regulatory issues related to accessibility issues for people with cognitive disabilities.
The Institute's web site features the nation's first searchable electronic database on published cognitive technology research literature pertinent to persons with cognitive disabilities. The database contains entries for over 900 articles that have been published in more than 70 journals. It is designed for use by researchers, engineers, students, business development specialists, and parents of persons with cognitive disabilities.
The State of the States in Developmental Disabilities and Related Projects
In addition to his Coleman Institute activities, Professor Braddock has secured additional grants for over $5.5 million through his academic appointment in CU's Department of Psychiatry. One of these current grants, for $1.5 million over five years, is the State of the States in Developmental Disabilities Project. It has been continuously funded by the US Government's Administration on Developmental Disabilities for 30 years. A second grant, recently concluded, built on the State of the States Project and extended its focus to mental health and physical disability. The National Study of Public Spending for Disability in the United States was funded at $600,000 over three years by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. It extended the state by state study of spending and services for people with developmental disabilities to psychiatric and physical disabilities. Recent publications from the two projects are listed below.
Staff includes: Richard Hemp, Senior Professional Research Assistant; Laura Haffer, Senior Professional Research Assistant; Joy Wu, Professional Research Assistant; Mary Kay Rizzolo, Clinical Associate Professor, Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago; and, Glenn Fujiura, Associate Professor, Public and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago; and, Glenn Fujiura, Associate Professor, Public and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Selected Publications
Braddock, D., Hemp, R., Rizzolo, M.C., Haffer, L., Tanis, S., & Wu, J. (2011). The State of the States in Developmental Disabilities: 2011. Boulder, Colorado. Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities and Department of Psychiatry. Distributed in collaboration with the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Washington, DC, 310 pages.
Braddock, D. (2010). Public spending for services to persons with disabilities in the United States. In Proceedings of a Conference on the Disability Market at the Federal Reserve Bank, Washington, DC. Boston: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Braddock, D. (2010). Honoring Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Legacy in Intellectual Disability, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
Braddock, D., Hemp, R., & Rizzolo, M.C. (2008). The State of the States in Developmental Disabilities: 2008. Washington, DC: American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (309 pages), Revised Edition.
Braddock, D. (2007). Washington rises: Public financial support for intellectual disability in the United States, 1955-2004. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 13, 169-177.
Rizzolo, M.C. & Braddock, D. (2008). People with Cognitive Disabilities. In S. Helal, M. Mokhtari, and B. Abdulrazak (Eds), The engineering handbook of smart technology for aging, disability, and independence, pp. 203-216. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
David Braddock, PhD, Associate Vice President, University of Colorado System; Executive Director, Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities; The Coleman Turner Chair & Professor in Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Enid Ablowitz, Associate Director, Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities
May 2011