The mission of UCLA’s Disabilities and Computing Program at the Office of Advanced Research Computing is two-fold. The first goal is to facilitate the integration of adaptive computing technology into the areas of instruction, study, research, and employment at UCLA. The second goal is to make information – including electronic text and multimedia – accessible to all students, faculty and staff.
The DCP Team
I am an instructional designer with over 13 years of experience in education and training technology. I have worked in many industries within learning technology, from software training to military contracting, to K-12 and currently higher education. I was the lead designer of the University of Southern California Master of Teaching and Master of Social Work online degrees. I have led the design, development, and implementation of over 20 online courses at the University of California. I have experience building stand-alone learning modules, reusable learning objects in Flash and HTML5, video production, and editing and working with LMS’s including Canvas, Moodle, and Blackboard. I’m focused on creating innovative and interactive learning for students of all ages with an emphasis on a simple and engaging user experience.
I am originally from South San Francisco, and still have the Bay Area vibe even though I left over 18 years ago. I now live in Los Angeles, and work at UCLA for the University of California Office of the President. I’m an avid hiker and runner. I’m currently working on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. I have completed over 400 miles of the 2000-mile journey. I’m what is known as a section hiker, taking the trail in sections ranging from 30 miles to 150 miles. I’m also an avid runner, and have completed over 8 marathons; I have since moved on to shorter distances. I’m currently trying to break 5 minutes in the mile, but need to chip 6 seconds off my current time.
In my free time I enjoy finding new ethnic foods in Los Angeles; my most recent discovery is the area called Little Ethiopia, where there are several fine Ethiopian restaurants. I also love all types of Asian foods, especially Vietnamese cuisine; I believe Vietnamese food will be the next Thai food in terms of popularity among average Americans.
My name is Sal and I am a person with low vision. I am currently the Accessibility Testing Lead at the UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program. My interests are web accessibility, technology, collecting headphones, listening to music, watching comedy shows, and hanging out with my amazing son and wonderful wife. Every time I look at my son and wife, it reminds me that each moment in time is special and I should enjoy each second as it passes. My mission here at the DCP is to make education accessible to all.
Born with a congenital disability, I didn't ever know how to fit in. It wasn't until I came to UCLA as an undergraduate student and discovered a disabled community here that I began to be proud to identify as a disabled person. Now, as the UWAI Senior Program Manager, I strive to help educate the campus about disability culture and accessibility best practices, hoping to change the hearts and minds of the general population to be amazing allies to the disabled community. UWAI helps elevate UCLA's digital accessibility through web development, digital document trainings, cultural seminars, advisements and evaluations, and even social media presence.
I am the technical lead for both the Disabilities and Computing Program as well as the Web Team of the Office of Advanced Research Computing. I have more than 20 years of experience in full stack web development. I have served as an accessibility evangelist for UCLA since the early days of the web. I have worked with many web and database technologies along the way, but today I build mostly in Drupal and React.js. I am proficient with various web and database programming languages, tools and standards including HTML, CSS, XML, SQL, JavaScript, Apache, PHP, MySQL, WCAG 2.x, Siteimprove and more.
When I'm not working, I enjoy playing board games with my brothers and our friends and volunteering with my church and other non-profits.
Catherine Yanga is the Quality and Requirements Analyst at the UCLA Office of Advanced Research Computing since 2008. She has been spearheading the quality analysis and technical support of all UCLA Mobilize Labs projects for more than 10 years now. Currently, she is helping the UCLA Disabilities and Computing Program on their accessibility testing to remediate UWAI Approved Sites.
She earned her Bachelor degree in Information Technology at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines then later on completed a Graduate Certificate in Information Systems Management when she migrated in USA at the Devry University, Graduate School of Management.
On her leisure time she loves traveling, exploring different cuisines, watching movies, singing, dancing and playing with her dog.