Doug Usiak - Project Director and Principal Investigator

Douglas J. Usiak is the Executive Director of the Western New York Independent Living Project family of agencies (WNYILP) in Buffalo. He has served two terms as Chairperson of New York State Independent Living Council (NYSILC), and as its Interim Executive Director. Mr. Usiak is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE) and the Steering Committees of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Universal Design and the RERC on Aging, at the University at Buffalo.

In 1993, Mr. Usiak directed the consumer assessment and information dissemination component of Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology Transfer. He helped to create AZtech, a consumer-controlled primary and secondary marketing organization specializing in universal design of assistive technology to serve people with and without disabilities. In 2000, the WNYILP became the first Independent Living Center to be awarded a federal grant to operate the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Independent Living Management. Mr. Usiak is the Project Director and Principal Investigator of the RRTC-ILM.

Douglas holds a bachelor's degree from the State University College of New York at Buffalo. He has completed advanced training on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and in the National Council on Independent Living's training program on the regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. He has served as technical consultant on independent living philosophy and management for disability groups across the US and internationally.

Ronald B. House, PhD - Training Director and Co-Principal Director

As Director of Training, Dr. House coordinates the design, development and test strategies to be used to replicate and transfer management practices from other successful community-based organizations to CILs.

Dr. House has been involved in the Independent Living Movement since 1980, when he worked with Independent Living Resource Utilization of Houston, Texas to develop a management training simulation for CILs. This past year, he and a team of independent living center directors revised the simulation for training executive directors.

As the former Director of the Human Services Administration Program, New York State College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, and the Project Director of the Rehabilitation Facility Administration Program, Dr. Ronald B. House earned his doctoral degree from Cornell University and has thirty years' experience managing federally funded national and regional training projects in independent living and community rehabilitation.

Vathsala Stone, PhD - Project Evaluator

Dr. Stone earned her doctoral degree at Florida State University in Educational Evaluation & Research Design. She is currently Research Director for the Rehabilitation Engineering Center on Technology Transfer, and teaches assistive technology evaluation at the University at Buffalo, NY. Her research and teaching expertise in designing and conducting evaluations of special needs populations will be put to use in estimating and guiding the success of the RRTC-ILM Project over its five-year span.

She will set up procedures for ongoing data collection, organization, and analysis of the project. Ms. Stone will track project outcomes and provide adjustments and improvements to the project processes. By monitoring the RRTC-ILM project activities from beginning to end, Dr. Stone will ensure that our original goals are well met and that the study has a truly beneficial impact on our stakeholders.

John A. Moffat - Project Coordinator

John Moffat earned his MS Ed at the State University College at Buffalo and has worked in independent living and in the service of persons with disabilities since 1994. Previously, he was the systems advocate and ADA Coordinator for an independent living center. He has also worked as the Coordinator for the consumer evaluation component of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Technology Evaluation and Transfer.

Mr. Moffat was the corporate management development trainer for a large financial institution. There he developed senior, middle and first line management training programs and presented them to staff. He has twenty-five years of group facilitation and leadership experience and ten years of conference and event planning. His experience includes facilitation and training, organizational and program development, planning, coordination, and research. He will monitor progress of the overall project and sub-projects and report on the implementation of goals. As facilitator of communication between the more than 30 various collaborative staff and steering council members, he will maintain the overall calendar of project events and activities and ensure that project accomplishments are synchronized.

Mark E. Montgomery, JD - Research Coordinator

Mr. Montgomery is the research coordinator for Project 4, developing and testing new strategies to enable CILs to benefit from the management models of other successful community-based organizations. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in law and political science from the University of Buffalo. Prior to joining the staff of the RRTC-ILM, Mr. Montgomery worked as a rehab teacher and employment specialist at the Elizabeth Pierce Olmstead Center for the Visually Impaired.

Maureen L. Moffat, MLS - Information and Dissemination Coordinator

Maureen Moffat coordinates data collection and information dissemination for the Compendium of Resources for Independent Living Management and the National CIL Database (Project 1). She has twenty-five years' experience in informatics with emphasis in bibliographic retrieval, database creation and management, mediated research services, end-user computer instruction and clinical health sciences librarianship.

Mrs. Moffat was a member of the faculty/staff at Eastern Virginia Medical School and a SUNY associate professor. She was the Lifelong Learning Center founder and director for the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library and a member of the library staff at the University at Buffalo. Maureen has twenty-five years of experience in copy editing, writing and proofreading including materials for CIRRIE and the Creative Education Foundation.