Jesse Leaman Ph.D

In 1996, as a senior in high school, I became paralyzed from the shoulders down after a spinal cord injury. Six years later I graduated with a BS in Astronomy from the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2008 I earned a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley and landed a job as a data analyst at NASA researching galaxies, black holes, and exploding stars. At the same time I began adding technology to my power wheelchair in order to improve my efficiency as a scientist with disabilities. In 2007 the “Gryphon Shield, Assistive Technology upgrade package for motorized wheelchairs,” was among the top 25 inventions of the year in the History Channel's InventNow Challenge. During a 2015-16 post-doc at the University of Nevada, Reno in the Advanced Robotics and Automation laboratory, I developed the successor of the Gryphon Shield, the intelligent power wheelchair (iChair). This combination of Mac technology, precision sensors, and 3D printed enclosure is mountable on almost any power wheelchair. My goal in life is to maximize my human potential, and inspire others to do to same. To that end, I have spoken in a variety of public settings, including high schools, colleges and universities, government laboratories, large corporations, local political meetings, and the US Senate subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension.