By Kara Sherrer
The Frist Center for Autism and Innovation opened last fall as an interdisciplinary effort to understand and promote neurodiverse talent. The center brings together researchers and professionals in the fields of engineering, psychology, medicine, and astrophysics to home in on the unique talents individuals on the autism spectrum can offer.
Tim Vogus, Brownlee O. Currey, Jr., Professor of Management at Vanderbilt’s Owen School of Management, is one of the center’s leaders. He recently sat down with us to catch up on everything the center has done in its first year of existence. (Find the full podcast at the bottom of the page.) Vogus says the center is focused on how to create and sustain meaningful work for people on the autism spectrum, noting that 80% of people on the spectrum are underemployed or unemployed.
The interdisciplinary nature of the center means that their researchers can study the problem from multiple angles, from management to medical to engineering. Right now, the center is conducting literature reviews to collect existing research and giving researchers seed grants to start new research as well. This work will be greatly expanded by three major grants the center received in the past month:
- NSF grant ($5,000,000 over 2 years) for “Inclusion AI for Neurodiverse Employment”
- NIH grant ($3,700,000 over 5 years) for “A Longitudinal Study of Employment and Educational Instability for Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder”
- NSF grant ($252,000 over 2 years) for “Enhancing Employment for Neurodiverse Individuals through Next-Generation, AI-Enabled Assessments of Visuospatial Cognition”
Vogus said that although their center focuses on individuals on the autism spectrum, the entire workforce could potentially benefit from their scholarship in the long run. “This is something that helps everybody… when you include more people, you might think ‘well, we’re creating some kind of special circumstance.’ No, you’re probably discovering better practice for everybody,” he said. “When you design for disability, you make it more inclusive for everyone.”
Listen to the full podcast here:
