Dr. Judy Harkins is a professor in Gallaudet University’s Department of Communication Studies. She is the founding director of the Technology Access Program, and has directed approximately 15 sponsored projects on access to communications and educational applications of technology. She is a principal investigator on two Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC) – one on Telecommunications Access in cooperation with the Trace Center, University of Wisconsin, and one on Hearing Enhancement, in cooperation with the Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at Gallaudet. These centers are funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Dr. Harkins also teaches coursework on communication accessibility to Gallaudet undergraduates.

Dr. Harkins served on the Consumer/Disability Telecommunications Advisory Committee to the FCC, the Telecommunication Access Advisory Committee of the U.S. Access Board, the Summit Process Long-Term Solutions Working Group on Digital Wireless Telephones and Hearing Aids, and has been an active member of the TTY Forum coordinated by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. She has been actively involved in the development of industry standards and guidelines aimed at accessibility for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, and has advised companies large and small on usability and market issues pertaining to these groups. She has been honored for her contributions to communication accessibility by Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People, Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc., League for the Hard of Hearing, and the DC Relay Service.