Jeff Higginbotham

Jeff Higginbotham is a Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences at the University at Buffalo, College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on augmentative communication, particularly how individuals with motor impairments engage in interactions using communication technology. He directs the Communication and Assistive Device Lab (CADL) and collaborates on Project OPEN, a 5-year NIH-funded grant studying communication challenges across different disability groups.

His research examines:

• Interaction time distortions in augmented communication
• Design improvements for communication devices
• Cross-disability communication strategies

Dr. Higginbotham has developed commercial AAC technologies through Enkidu Research and holds patents for utterance-based communication systems. He has contributed to automated data logging technologies and dynamic word prediction systems for AAC.

Awards and honors include:

• Fellow of ASHA (2014)
• Honors of the Association in Speech-Language Pathology (2013)
• Mary E. Switzer Distinguished Research Fellowship (1996-1997)