Center on Aging and the Life Course to host symposium on ‘Technological Innovations for Optimal Aging'

The Center on Aging and the Life Course will hold a symposium Sept. 28 on "Technological Innovations for Optimal Aging."

The annual symposium will take place from 8 a.m. to noon in Stewart Center, Room 214. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required by emailing calc@purdue.edu.

The keynote speaker will be Wendy A. Rogers, the Shahid and Ann Carlson Khan Professor of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, on "Technology Design to Support Successful Aging." Rogers' primary appointment is in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health. She also has an appointment in Educational Psychology and is an affiliate faculty member of the Beckman Institute and the Illinois Informatics Institute.

Rogers received her PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a certified human factors professional. Her research interests include design for aging; technology acceptance; human-automation interaction; aging-in-place; human-robot interaction; aging with disabilities; cognitive aging; and skill acquisition and training.

The symposium also will feature presentations on:

* "Utilizing Architectural Visualization Technology to Enhance Confidence in Safe Aging in Place Modifications" by Denise McAllister Wilder, PhD candidate, School of Construction Management Technology.

* "Aging with Assisted-driving Systems and Autonomous Vehicles" by Brandon Pitts, assistant professor, School of Industrial Engineering.

* "Heated Water-circulating Garments to Improve Symptoms of Peripheral Artery Disease" by Jacob Monroe, PhD candidate, Department of Health and Kinesiology.

* "Manual Synergy Measurements" by Satyajit Ambike, assistant professor, Department of Health and Kinesiology.

* "New Technologies for Understanding Aging Bone: Microimaging and 3D Printing" by Thomas Siegmund, professor, School of Mechanical Engineering.

The symposium is one of many events celebrating Purdue’s sesquicentennial, 150 Years of Giant Leaps. This yearlong celebration is highlighting Purdue’s remarkable history of giant leaps, while focusing on what giant leaps Purdue can take to address the world’s problems. The symposium addresses the Giant Leaps campaign theme of “Health, Longevity and Quality of Life.”

The event is sponsored by the Center on Aging and the Life Course and the Purdue University Retirees Association. For more information, contact Paige Ebner at 765-494-9692, email calc@purdue.edu or visit www.purdue.edu/aging.