Danene Fast
Danene Fast, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor – Clinical and Faculty Lead for the Programs in Visual Impairment within the Department of Teaching and Learning at The Ohio State University. Prior to her time at the university, Dr. Fast gained extensive experience working as a practitioner in the field of education; she is currently dually certified as an orientation and mobility specialist (COMS) and teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI). Her research agenda focuses on accessibility and inclusion, with several co-authored articles in the area of accessibility of STEM education, including intersections between orientation and mobility (O&M) and science education. She has published and presented at local, national, and international venues.
Stacy Kelly
Stacy Kelly, Ed.D., is a Professor in the Visual Disabilities Program at Northern Illinois University. She is the author or co-author of more than 70 publications which includes books, chapters, and refereed journal articles, and has presented at more than 90 professional conferences including local, regional, national, and international conferences in the field of blindness and visual impairments focused on the topic of assistive technology for people with visual impairments. Kelly is appointed as the founding co-chair of the Assistive Technology Certification Subject Matter Expert (SME) Committee by the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals (ACVREP) and currently serves on the ACVREP Board of Directors representing both the Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist for People with Visual Impairment (CATIS) and Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist (COMS) areas of certification. She has experience as a licensed teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI) and as a disability policy research with the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB).
Derrick Smith
Derrick Smith is a professor and Associate Dean in the College of Education of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). He started his educational career as a Secondary Mathematics teacher at the Alabama School for the Blind. Upon earning his doctorate in special education in visual impairments from Texas Tech University, he started his research and development career at UAH. Dr. Smith runs the STEM-VI Mathematics Research Laboratory where his team focuses on research on STEM education for students with visual impairments and blindness. As part of his work, he has collaborated on multiple National Science Foundation grants in STEM education for students with visual impairments as an education evaluator and principal investigator.
Tiffany Wild
Dr. Wild is a certified teacher of students with visual impairments and an associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education and Human Ecology. Dr. Wild’s research focuses on science education for students with visual impairments. Dr. Wild has published and presented both nationally and internationally. She is an alumni of the prestigious doctoral fellowship program with the National Center for Leadership in Visual Impairments. Recently she was awarded the Warren C. Bledsoe award by the Association for Education of the Blind and Visually Impaired for noteworthy literature in the field of visual impairment and blindness.
