May 12, 1999
Contact: Charlotte Crystal
(804) 924-6858
cc5h@virginia.edu


CHRIS LANKFORD HELPS PARALYZED PATIENTS FIND A VOICE

	The eyes may not only be the windows to the soul, but also the
doorway to independence for people who are paralyzed.
	By gazing at images on a computer screen, handicapped patients
using ERICA can write, log onto the Internet or operate equipment in
their homes, thanks to the work of Chris Lankford, a fifth-year master's
degree student in electrical engineering at the University of Virginia,
and his
professor, Tom Hutchinson.
	Hutchinson, a professor of systems engineering and the inventor
of scratch-and-sniff technology, came up with the idea of ERICA
(Eye-Gaze Response Interface Computer Aid) about a decade ago. Since
then, he has invited hundreds of students to help him develop the
technology, but few have contributed as much to the effort as Lankford.
	The system, basically a computer and camera setup, works by
bathing the user's face in invisible infrared light, enabling the camera
to determine precisely where on the computer screen the person is
looking.
	Lankford has helped fine tune the system to account for the
distortion in the image of the eye caused by eyeglasses and currently is
working on ways for it to cope with users who are palsied and can't hold
their heads still.
	Lankford also has been responsible for shrinking the size of the
keyboard displayed on the screen and creating more room to put up menu
options. One exciting result of this effort has been to free enough
screen space to display two programs at once, allowing users to move
beyond
proprietary software and operate off-the-shelf commercial software.
	Current users include a 7-year-old girl in New Hampshire with
cerebral palsy and a former professor of mathematics in Central Virginia
suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease.
	"The most beneficial part of working on ERICA is that you can
see the payoff right away," Lankford says. "You see the impact it has on
people. While we are developing other applications for the technology
[especially in advertising, diagnosis of autism, and lie detection]
ERICA was originally developed for the handicapped and that remains our
prime focus."
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	A 1994 graduate of Midlothian High School, Lankford will
complete his five-year bachelor's and master's degree program in
electrical engineering this year. He plans to pursue a doctorate in
systems engineering with Hutchinson, working on various aspects of
ERICA.

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	For more information, call Chris Lankford at (804) 982-2065, or
cpl2b@virginia.edu. Tom Hutchinson can be reached at (804) 924-1723, or
teh@virginia.edu. Television reporters should call the TV News Office at
(804) 924-7550.