Pallabi Bhowmick is a Postdoc at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, working with Prof. Wendy Rogers. Her research focuses on designing and evaluating emerging technologies for older adults in the US. She is particularly interested in how virtual reality can be used to foster cognitive engagement and social connection, and how robotic technologies can support daily activities to improve independence. She uses user-centered design, mixed-methods evaluation, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to improve technology accessibility and adoption, contributing to multi-site initiatives, including the NIA-funded CREATE consortium and the NIDILRR-funded TechSAge RERC. Pallabi holds a Ph.D. in Health Informatics from Indiana University Bloomington, where she investigated how technology can reduce isolation, address ageism in technology design, and promote aging in place. She has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and Engineering from India, an M.S. in Informatics from Technical University of Munich, Germany, along with industry experience at Wipro, India and Intel, Germany.

Michelle Putnam, PhD, MGS, FGSA is Director of the Gerontology Institute and Professor in the Gerontology Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She holds a BA in History from the University of Michigan, a Master's in Gerontological Studies from Miami University in Ohio, and a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles, and served as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Public Health in Disabilities at Oregon Health & Sciences University. Dr. Putnam's scholarship focuses on the intersections of aging and disability including how growing older with lifelong and long-term disability is different than aging into disability for the first time in later life and how to build bridges across aging and disability research, policy and practice. She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Innovation in Aging, a journal of the Gerontological Society of America.

Elena Remillard is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has a Master of Science in Gerontology from the University of Southern California. Her research interests include: design and technology for aging-in-place, technology acceptance among older adults, and aging with disability. She is an investigator for the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technologies to Support Aging among People with Long-Term Disabilities.

Laura A. Rice, PhD, MPT, ATP is a Professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Her research focuses on the management of secondary impairments associated with physical disabilities and increasing quality of life and community participation. She is a RESNA-certified Assistive Technology Professional and director of the Illini Wheelchair and Scooter clinic. She received her PhD in Rehabilitation Science and Technology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2010 and a M.S. in Physical Therapy and B.S. in Health Sciences from Duquesne University in 2004 and 2003 respectively.

Dr. Lieke van Heumen is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago whose work focuses on aging, disability, cognitive accessibility, and inclusive research. Her research explores how people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their allies experience systems of support, community participation, and quality of life across the life course. She is particularly interested in participatory and inclusive research approaches that meaningfully engage people with disabilities as partners in the research process. Through her scholarship, teaching, and community collaborations, Dr. van Heumen works to advance equitable, accessible, and person-centered practices that promote inclusion, self-determination, and aging well.