Expert on aging to discuss technology and care of older adults

LAWRENCE — Brain training. Smart homes. Robots. Wearables. Monitoring and reminder systems. Personal digital assistants. Self-driving cars.

There's no shortage of gadgets on the market today aimed at making life easier as we get older. Will these things actually prove to be useful and practical for the health and well-being of older adults?

An expert on health care technologies and their design for aging will discuss the potential benefits and perils of this new technological frontier in her visit to the University of Kansas later this week.

Wendy Rogers, professor of psychology and director of the Human Factors and Aging Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will present "Aging and Technology: How Do We Know What Works?" at 4 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.

The lecture is sponsored by the KU Gerontology Center, KU Life Span Institute, AIA Design and Health Research Consortium of the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, and the Center for Research on Aging and Disability Options in the School of Social Welfare.

Rogers' research areas include health care technologies, design for aging, technology acceptance, human automation interaction, aging-in-place, human-robot interaction, cognitive aging, aging with disabilities and skill acquisition and training.

She is a member of the Aware Home Research Initiative aimed at addressing the fundamental technical, design and social challenges for people in a home setting. Central to this research is the Aware Home, a three-story, 5,040-square-foot facility designed for research while providing an authentic home environment.