Brad Fain

Dr. Fain has over seventeen years experience in human performance research. Dr. Fain has led human factors program and human systems integration efforts for both military and industrial customers. He is the technical director of the Air Force’s Expeditionary Medicine Human Systems Integration research project and served as project director on National Council on Disability (NCD)’s universal design research project. He designed and implemented the Georgia Tech Universal Design Survey and has led survey development efforts for several other programs. Dr. Fain has been involved in a research effort to study human factors issues in advanced traffic management systems in Intelligent Transportation Systems. He has performed human factors analyses for the user-centered design of the Advanced Traffic Management Center simulator sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration.

Dr. Fain currently serves as the technical director for the Expeditionary Medical Facility Human Systems Integration research projects sponsored by the Surgeon General of the Air Force. The purpose of the project is to identify Human Systems Integration issues in the envisioned expeditionary medical facility of the future and to produce design guidance for producing such a facility. He also serves as the technical director of the JCREW 3.3 counter remote controlled improvised explosive device (RCIED) human systems integration program. He is leading the analysis and design of all operator and maintenance interfaces.

Dr. Fain served as the technical director for the Information Technology and Technical Assistance Training Center (ITTATC) project. He led the needs assessment and technical assistance portions of the ITTATC project and has led the development of training materials to educate designers and accessibility specialists in the measurement of accessibility. He established the Accessibility Evaluation Facility (AEF) at Georgia Tech to support independent third party evaluations of electronic and information technology accessibility and usability. The AEF serves both industry and government customers by evaluating products to measure conformance with disability related technical guidelines. Dr. Fain directs the Center for Consumer Product Research and Testing at GTARC. The center’s mission is to identify, research, and publish pre-competitive data concerning the needs, aspirations, and abilities of children, older consumers, consumers with arthritis, and consumers with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities.

Dr. Fain developed the Accessibility Evaluation Methodology (AEM) and published a report documenting the methodology in 2001. He has performed over fifty accessibility evaluations for national and international customers in nine projects. In 2004, Dr. Fain modified the AEM to measure ease of use for special populations and, as a result, GTARC was named as the national test lab for the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease of Use Commendation Program and similar programs for Arthritis Australia, Arthritis New Zealand, and the Arthritis Society of Canada. He has executed over eighty evaluation projects. He pioneered the development of Consumer Product Integration (CPI) as a design process for the realization of products with universal design features.

Dr. Fain led the National Council on Disability (NCD)’s universal design research program. The focus of the research program was to determine the impact of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act on the design and procurement of electronic and information technologies. Dr. Fain’s report contained universal design policy recommendations that were endorsed by the NCD and sent to the President of the United States for consideration. He conceived and led the development of an information portal containing information pertaining to the design and procurement of accessible electronic and information technologies. The Accessibility Assistant (http://accessibility.GTARC.gatech.edu) is the culmination of ten years of accessibility research at Georgia Tech and serves over 1500 visitors monthly. Dr. Fain conducted a study of driver decision making in the presence of real-time traffic information in both young and older adults. His research led to the development of guidelines for the generation of Variable Message Sign (VMS) messages displayed to travelers.

Dr. Fain has a Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Psychology from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Master of Science in Engineering Psychology from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.