LSU Education Faculty Team Selected for National Innovation Boot Camp to Advance Disability-Focused Technology Development
March 03, 2026
BATON ROUGE, LA — Allie Boquet, PhD; Paul Mooney, PhD; and Jennifer Qian, EdD, of the LSU Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education (SOE) have been selected to participate in the Spring 2026 idea 2 IMPACT Boot Camp, a nationally competitive innovation and technology-transfer training program hosted
by the University of Pittsburgh’s IMPACT Center. 
The program provides mentorship, training and technical assistance to help research teams translate innovative ideas into real-world solutions that improve outcomes for individuals with disabilities. The SOE team is one of 12 teams selected from a national pool of applicants to participate in the Spring 2026 Boot Camp cohort.
The interdisciplinary LSU team is collaborating on the development of technology-supported learning tools designed to teach emergency preparedness and independent living skills to individuals with disabilities, particularly students participating in inclusive postsecondary education programs like Integrative Community Studies (ICS). Their work integrates expertise in special education, education technology and computer science to create accessible, scalable learning solutions aligned with workforce-readiness and community-safety goals.
“This opportunity allows us to move our work beyond curriculum development and into innovation that can directly improve independence and safety outcomes for people with disabilities,” Boquet said. “The Boot Camp will help us better understand how to bring research-based tools to the communities who need them most.”
“This initiative represents the kind of cross-college collaboration that drives meaningful innovation,” Mooney said. “By combining expertise in education and computing, we can design solutions that are both evidence-based and technologically robust.”
“Technology has tremendous potential to expand access to learning and safety resources,” Qian said. “Participating in the IMPACT Boot Camp will help us refine how we design, test and scale tools that are truly accessible and responsive to user needs.”
The idea 2 IMPACT Boot Camp is part of the Initiative to Mobilize Partnerships for Successful Assistive Technology Transfer (IMPACT), which supports innovators working to move assistive and accessibility-focused technologies from concept to implementation. Participants are paired with mentors and introduced to commercialization pathways, stakeholder engagement strategies, and technology transfer processes.
The LSU team’s selection reflects the university’s continued commitment to interdisciplinary research, innovation in disability services and the development of technologies that support inclusive education and workforce participation.
About the LSU Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education
A school of the LSU College of Human Sciences & Education, the Lutrill & Pearl Payne
School of Education (SOE) offers undergraduate programs for students who want to pursue
a career as a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade teacher or acquire dual certification
in both traditional elementary and special education classrooms. In addition, SOE
offers 3 graduate certificates, 17 master’s degree program areas, 9 EdS certificate
programs, and 2 PhD degrees in 11 areas of focus. SOE’s focus is not only on preparing
highly qualified teachers but also in preparing educational leaders, curriculum studies
scholars, educational technology experts, applied researchers, higher education professionals,
school counselors, and clinical mental health counselors. SOE specializes scholarly
expertise regarding pressing educational and wellness issues across the entire lifespan.