James Gips

James Gips—a beloved Carroll School professor who inspired generations of management students and improved the lives of countless others—passed away on June 10, 2018.

Professor Gips’ research focused on helping people with severe disabilities live fuller lives by enabling them to interact with the computer and thereby communicate with the outside world. He helped developed two technologies: EagleEyes and Camera Mouse. EagleEyes is a technology that uses electrodes to sense eye movements and allows a person to move the mouse pointer on the screen just by moving his eyes. The Camera Mouse uses a USB webcam to track head movements and allows a person to control the mouse pointer on the screen just by moving his head. The technologies have been used by people with Cerebral Palsy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Traumatic Brain Injury, and other disorders.

Professor Gips won a 2007 da Vinci Award “honoring exceptional design and engineering achievements in accessibility and universal design, that empowers people of all abilities.”

Professor Gips was a Visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab in the Spring of 2004. Prior to joining Boston College he worked at the Department of Biomathematics at UCLA and at the Psychophysiology Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. He received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford and an S.B. from MIT.