DO-IT Mentors

Mentors encourage DO‑IT Scholars, Ambassadors, and Pals as they pursue academic programs and careers. Most Mentors have disabilities themselves. They share valuable experiences, insights, and resources with younger participants. Mentors communicate with each other by sending messages to mentors@uw.edu. The entire group of Mentors, Pals, Scholars, and Ambassadors are reached by sending messages to doitchat@uw.edu.

Adanna Abakporo
Youth Summer Program Coordinator
Open Doors for Multicultural Families

Kevin Berg
Cerebral palsy
Fouder and Head TechCompuPane, LLC

Anindya “Bapin” Bhattacharyya
Deaf/blind
Coordinator of National Outreach Technology Development and Training Program
Helen Keller National CenterCEO of Bapin Group, LLC

Karen L. Braitmayer
Osteogenesis imperfect
Architect, business owner
Karen Braitmayer, FAIA

Gina Ceylan
Visual impairment
Ph.D. candidate
University of Missouri

Wendy Chisholm
Senior accessibility strategist
Microsoft

Rebecca Cory
Learning disability
Associate Dean of Instruction
Bellevue College

Frank Cuta
Blind
Electrical engineer
Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs

Don Daughtry
Visual impairment
Assistant professor
University of North Dakota

Imke Durre
Blind
Climatologist
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Climatic Data Center

John Gardner
Blind
President and CEO
ViewPlus Technologies

Kajari Ghosh Dastidar
Computer Scientist
EdgeVerve

Molly Gilmore
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

John Goettle

Julie Grant
Paraplegic, L2 spinal cord injury
Ocupational therapist

Roger Harris
Stroke, kidney failure
Associate professor emeritus, retired
University of Washington, School of Medicine

Morgan Hiraiwa

Mamoru Iwabuchi             
Associate professor
Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Tokyo

Sungeeta Jain
Paraplegic
Director
The Orphan Project, India
Founder and Director
Soft Robotics, Inc.

Karen Liu
Statistical Research Associate
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Sara Lopez
Program administrator and lecturer
University of Washington, Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership Program

Kevin Lybarger
University of Washington

Robert F. McKellar
Spina bifida
Author of An Accident of Birth, educator, and counselor

Theresa Mina
Learning disability
Academic Advisor

Stephanie Moore
Project scientist
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Jennifer Mundl
C1-ventilator dependent, quadriplegia
Assistive technology specialist
Courage Center Rehabilitation Facility

Monica Olsson
Cerebral palsy
Specialist/Academic Counselor
DigiPen Institute of Technology

Bruce Parks
Hearing impairment
School improvement coordinator
Vermont Department of Education

Tracy Peterson
Mobility impairment
Computer science, Spanish major
Southwest State University

Gay Lloyd Pinder
Deaf
Program director and speech language pathologist
Children’s Therapy Center

Tracy Rackensperger
Cerebral palsy
Outreach Coordinator
University of Georgia

Charity Ranger
Friedreich’s ataxia
Independent Living Program staff
Alliance of People with disAbilities

Sally Richards
Workforce specialist, disability program
Northwest Employment and Training Center

Michael Richardson    
Deaf
Director
Northwest Americans with Disabilities Act Center

Keith Routley
Deaf
Museum Curator/Division Chief

Marcia Sipe-Dan
Post traumatic stress disorder and brain damage
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor
OSC Vocational Systems

Greg Smith
C-5 quadriplegia
Software design engineer
Microsoft

Carole Snyder
Cerebral palsy
Software developer engineer

Val Sundby-Thorp
Dean for Social Science and Business
South Puget Sound Community College

Aimee Verrall
Research coordinator
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
University of Washington

Jennifer Weisbart-Moreno

Vasanth Williams
Software engineer
Amazon

Paul Zaveruha
Surgeon