Catherine G. Wolf

Catherine Gody Wolf at the computer: when her eyebrows rise, the black band around her forehead lifts and triggers a switch

Catherine G. Wolf (born May 25, 1947 in Washington, DC , † February 7, 2018 in Katonah , Westchester County , New York ) was an American psychologist and computer scientist . She was best known for her research in the field of human-computer interaction.

life and work

Wolf studied psychology at Tufts University and received her degree from Brown University . She then completed an additional postgraduate course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before starting as a full-time researcher. In 1968 she married the mathematician Joel Wolf, with whom she had two daughters. She received her PhD in psychology from Brown University with Peter D. Eimas and became a manager at Bell Laboratories for Human Factors in 1977 . In 1985 she began working as a research psychologist at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York . During her time at IBM, she was particularly interested in learning how people use software in the workplace. In response to the behavior she observed, she designed and tested new interface systems in which speech and handwritten words could be converted into digital information. Among other things, she worked on a system called the Conversation Machine, the forerunner of today's telephone banking systems. In 1997 she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In 2001, she decided to have a tracheostomy , which consisted of permanently placing a breathing tube in the neck so that she could breathe without using her nose or mouth. She eventually lost use of all of her muscles except for a few in her face. To communicate, she used a computer system that converted the movement of her eyebrows into text. She wrote poetry, sent emails, conducted interviews, and wrote articles. In 2004 she went on long-term leave for the disabled and officially retired in 2012. Even after she had lost almost all muscle functions, she still made a contribution to research into human-computer interaction. She also worked with the Wadsworth Center , part of the New York State Department of Health, as a system tester. In 2009, she published a research article that expands a scale commonly used to assess ALS progression (known as ALSFRS-R) to more accurately assess the capabilities of people with advanced ALS. This paper went a long way towards understanding what ALS patients might be able to do even when much of their muscle function has been lost. With the loss of her muscle control, she increasingly became an expert in brain-computer interface systems. She published more than 100 research articles and owned six patents. In 2003 she received a Distinguished Service Award from Tufts University.

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personal data
SURNAME	Wolf, Catherine G.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Wolf, Catherine Gody
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American psychologist and computer scientist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 25, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH	Washington, DC
DATE OF DEATH	February 7, 2018
Place of death	Katonah