Presenter

Sarah Farmer serves as Director of Testing and Evaluation of the Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP) at Georgia Tech. As a human factors researcher, Sarah's research areas have ranged from modeling human performance to applied research in the field of accessible design. Sarah also acts as the managing director of HomeLab, a human factors research initiative at Georgia Tech. HomeLab consists of researchers with various specialties, including human factors engineering, psychology, universal design, industrial design, and electrical and mechanical engineering. HomeLab also consists of a pool of participants, with a focus on older adults and people with disabilities. These participants have agreed to participate in research both in the lab and in the home, including longitudinal studies.

Sarah also contributes to the NIH's Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, launched in May 2020 to speed the innovation, development, commercialization, and deployment of COVID-19 diagnostic technologies. She established and leads the human factors sub-core for the RADx Test Verification Core (TVC), tasked with evaluating and providing support for candidate COVID-19 diagnostic technologies in the areas of clinical validity, regulatory processes, usability, and robustness of design. The data collected within the human factors sub-core are provided to technology companies to aid in improving the design and performance of their product, and to NIH leadership to assist in determining if a technology should proceed in the program. In her role as the TVC human factors sub-core lead, Sarah and her team conduct rapid evaluations of candidate technologies and have conducted over 100 evaluations to date. For her contributions to this program, she received the Institute Research Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Program Development, which is awarded each year to a research team that pioneers new research areas, develops interdisciplinary initiatives, has societal impact, and significantly expands Georgia Tech’s research portfolio.