Mainonline storeResearchdownloadAboutContact
About

Steven Landau

Experience

  • Touch Graphics, President and Director of Research. 1997-present
  • Parsons The New School for Design, Product Design Thesis Instructor, 2008-present
  • New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Adjunct Assistant Professor, 2008.
  • University of Arizona, Visiting Faculty, 2001-2002.
  • New Jersey Institute of Technology. Adjunct Instructor, 1999-2001.
  • Harvard Graduate School of Design, Instructor. 1986 -1987.
  • Professional Architect, 1986-1997

Education

  • Harvard University Graduate School of Design. M.Arch. 1986
  • Oberlin College, B.A. 1982.

Awards and Grants

  • Tibbets Award, United States Small Business Administration, 2011.
  • Louis Braille Prize, National Braille Press, 2007.
  • IDEA Competition, Computer Equipment category. Gold Medal, 2006.
  • Tech Awards Laureate (Microsoft Education Award), Tech Museum of Innovation, 2004.
  • US National Inventors’ Hall of Fame Invent Now America Finalist, 2004.
  • Research Grant, Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Fine Arts, 1996.
  • Julia Amory Appleton Traveling Fellowship, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 1986.

Patents

  • Landau, S. & Eveland, Z. Shaped Capacitive Touch Sensor, Devices and Methods of Use. U.S. Application Serial Number 61/509,394. 2011.
  • Landau, S. System for Guiding Visually Impaired Pedestrian Using Audio Cues. U.S. Patent No. 7,039,522. Issued May 2, 2006.
  • Gourgey, K. & Landau, S.Tactile Graphic-Based Interactive Overlay Assembly And Computer System for The Visually Impaired. U.S. Patent No. 7,039,522. Issued Sep 12, 2006.

Publications and Conference Presentations

  • Landau, S. Exhibit Design Relating to Low Vision and Blindness: Tactile Mapping for Cultural and Entertainment Venues. LEAD Conference, San Diego, 2010.
  • Landau, S. New York City's Growing Network of Talking Kiosks. Access and the City Conference, Dublin, Ireland. 2008.
  • Hansen, E., Shute, V., & Landau, S. An Assessment-for-learning system in mathematics for individuals with visual disabilities. In Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness. In Press. 2009.
  • Landau, S. Multi-sensory displays in universal design exhibits. Art Beyond Sight: Multimodal Approaches to Learning, Creativity and Communication, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.
  • McGinnis, R. & Landau, S. Women in Paintings: A Tactile Graphic Book Featuring Works of Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • Heirlich, S. & Landau, S. SAL2: An interactive learning system for Braille literacy. Proceedings of 2007 CSUN Conference, California State University at Northridge.
  • Landau, S. Development of a universal interactive display for three-dimensional cartographic information: The Smithsonian Institution’s Talking Touch Model of the Washington, D.C. National Mall and environs. Proceedings of the 2007 Technology-Based Learning with Disabilities Conference. Wright State University
  • Landau, S., McGinnis, R. Ziebarth, B. & Newlin, J. Hearing pictures, touching sounds: multi-sensory approaches in museum interpretation. Proceedings of the 2007 AAM Conference. American Association of Museums.
  • Landau, S., Russell, M. & Erin, J. The use of the talking tactile tablet as a testing accommodation. RE:view: Rehabilitation and Education for Blindness and Visual Impairment, Spring, 2006. Association for Education of the Blind and Visually Impaired. pp. 7-21.
  • Landau, S. Illustrated Digital Talking Books: Extending the DAISY/NISO Specification. Proceedings of 2006 CSUN Conference, California State University at Northridge.
  • Landau, S. Sensible Sight. In Innovation, Fall 2006. vol. 5, no. 2. Industrial Design Society of America, Dulles, Virginia. pp 40-43.
  • Landau, S. Illustrated Digital Talking Books. In TacNews. International Cartographic Association Commission on Maps and Graphics for Blind and Partially Sighted People. June, 2006. pp. 93-100.
  • Miele, J., Landau, S. & Gilden, D. Talking TMAP: Automated Generation of Audio-Tactile Maps Using Smith-Kettlewell’s TMAP Software. In British Journal of Visual Impairment. May, 2006.
  • Landau, S. Two rockets: universally designed audio-tactile interactive sculptures. Proceedings of the National Centre for Tactile Diagrams 2005 Conference, Birmingham, England. Royal National Institute for the Blind.
  • Landau, S., Weiner, W., Naghshineh, K., & Giusti, E. Creating accessible science museums with user-activated environmental audio beacons (Ping!). Journal of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America. 2005.
  • Landau, S. Audio-tactile accommodations for delivery of standardized tests to blind or visually impaired students. Proceedings of the Council of Chief State School Officials Large Scale Testing 2005 Conference, San Antonio, TX.
  • Landau, S., & Hansen, E. Audio-Tactile Graphics in an Adaptive Delivery System for Math Tests and Instruction. Proceedings of GAMA Conference, 2005. National Federation of the Blind.
  • Landau, S., Weiss, M., Giusti, E., Rubin, E. & Proctor, N. Sonic breadcrumbs: digital sign language guides and other innovations. Proceedings of the AAM 2004 Conference. American Association of Museums, Washington, DC.
  • Landau, S., Holborow, R. & Erin, J. Creating accessible high-stakes tests. Proceedings of the 2004 CSUN Conference, “Technologies and Persons with Disabilities”. California State University at Northridge.
  • Landau, S., Russell, M., Erin, J. & Gourgey, K. Use of the Talking Tactile Tablet in mathematics tests. Journal for Visual Impairment and Blindness, February 2003. AFB Press, New York.
  • Landau, S and Gourgey, K. Audio/tactile computing and the talking tactile tablet. In Information Technologies and Disabilities. Spring 2001.
  • Landau, S. Audio/tactile interface for delivery of multiple choice tests. In Proceedings of the 2002 conference on Touch, Blindness and Neuroscience. Department of Psicolog, Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid, Spain.
  • Gutierrez, B., Joffee, E., Gourgey, K. & Landau, S. Evaluation of a prototype talking directory display system (tdds) in an inter-modal transit facility. In Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, November-December 1997.
  • Landau, S. Tactile graphics: strategies for non-visual seeing. In Thresholds. MIT School of Architecture. 1999.

Synergistic Activities

  • Panel reviewer, US Department of Education, 2001-2004
  • Member, Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America, since 2003
  • Member, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, since 2001
  • Laureate, Tech Laureates Venture Network
Areas of Expertise

Assistive technology product design and development; computer telephony; programming; tactile graphic design and production; museum exhibit design and fabrication; non-visual interface design; architectural design and pedagogy.