Melanie Fried-Oken, PhD, CCC-SLP is a certified speech-language pathologist and a leading international clinician and researcher in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) where she provides expertise about assistive technology for persons with acquired disabilities who cannot use speech or writing for expression. Dr. Fried-Oken leads a number of federal grants to research communication technology for persons with Locked-In Syndrome, Primary Progressive Aphasia, Alzheimer's disease, ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. She is a partner in the NIDILRR funded Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (RERC on AAC). She leads a translational research team in the development and research of brain-computer interfaces and other AAC technologies. Dr. Fried-Oken’s greatest passion is to identify challenges of people with complex communication needs that are not being met by current AAC practices, and to develop technologies or intervention strategies that help people participate to their greatest potential.