Please note:
This study is completed and is no longer accepting participants.  Results will be announced in the coming months.

Participants wanted for study, $100 offered for participation.

This study will analyze the effect of outlet height on ease of use among people who use wheelchairs, aged 18-75.  Participants will receive $100 for participating in the 1-hour study at NC State’s facility.

The study aims to improve understanding of optimal wall outlet height in hopes of informing building code.  Most previous studies have been conducted using college students (most frequently young healthy males). By including wheelchair users, we wish to gain more representative sample of the population.
Read the rest of this entry »

30 publications created over the past 20 years, all of them still relevant and useful, were published in the first issue of the Design Research and Methods Journal.

Several articles that were only available via mail order are now free to access online, and several other articles targeted specifically towards people with disabilities are now in accessible PDF format.  A list of recommended articles can be found here.

All articles will be permanently archived in the Library of Congress.

Siwen Liu presented findings from research performed in the RED Lab focusing on the grip span, aging and force generation capability.  This research digs deeper into the notion of designing ‘chunkier grips’  for older folks – think OXO grips! Nice job Siwen!

Joines, S., Liu, S., Vercoe, A. “Grip Span and Aging: Does the grip strength-span relationship change with age?”, HFES Conference 2010

Dwell Magazine highlights universal design with a story about a renovated modern home in Seattle that features universal access space planning and ADA compliance. (9/15/2010)

The Center for Universal Design donated feet of books on universal design, aging, disabilities, and accessibility to the Design Library at NCSU.

We hope the information will be more accessible to the design community while being cared for by professional librarians.

- Sharon Joines, UDI Director

Sean Vance, AIA has served the CUD as director for 3 years. Under his leadership, the CUD broadened its outreach, improved access to materials by making them available on the web and increased the Center’s efficiency.  Accepting a position at the University of Michigan as a professor of architecture, the Center is reminded of its connection to the many people that have shaped the Center and given so much to Universal Design.