Dr. John Gardner is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Oregon State University and is founder and president of ViewPlus Technologies, Inc.

John Gardner 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 Distinguished Service Awards bestowed by Oregon State University and the University of Illinois, 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. It is represented by distributors in all major countries.

John Gardner is the founder and editor-in-chief of the STEM-access web site.

In 2012 Dr. Gardner received the 3rd ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility. The award recognises individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to the development of computing technologies which improve the accessibility of media and services to people with disabilities. The award was presented to Dr. Gardner by SIGACCESS Vice-Chair Clayton Lewis at the ASSETS 2012 Conference. After the award, Dr Gardner gave the opening keynote of the conference.