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John Gardner is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Oregon State University and is founder and president of ViewPlus Technologies, Inc. He is internationally recognized as a leading expert on the physics of defects in materials. He has won a number of scientific awards including the Humboldt Prize awarded by the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and awards for his accessibility contributions including the Distinguished Service Award bestowed by Oregon State University for Exceptional Contributions to Society, and the Oregon Governor’s Award in recognition of outstanding achievements in improving access to education and employment through technology. His physics research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Office of Naval Research, the Department of Defense, NASA, and several private corporations and foundations.

After losing his sight in 1988 in mid-career, John Gardner formed the Science Access Project (http://dots.physics.orst.edu) to do research and development on new technologies for access to complex information by people with print disabilities. ViewPlus Technologies (http://www.ViewPlus.com ) is a spin-off company formed to commercialize the Tiger tactile graphics embosser technology and other technologies developed in the Science Access Project. It has grown to become a major access technology company with worldwide sales of millions of dollars per year. ViewPlus has been able to maintain a high level of product research and development because of numerous Small Business Innovation Research grants from the US National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

John Gardner has presented hundreds of seminars, colloquia, workshops, contributed and invited conference talks on physics and on information access by people with disabilities throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. He is considered a leading expert on access to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) information.