[Blindtlk] fw: [nabs-l] fw: [nfbmi-talk] article about Cary Supalo

[Chris Nusbaum]

Cary Supalo is a blind chemist from Penn State University.  He 
has developed a program in conjunction with HumanWare and other 
companies to make science more accessible to blind students and 
professionals.  Read on to learn more...

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan (President, National Federation of the Blind, 
1968-1986

P.S.  The I C.A.N.  Foundation helps blind and visually impaired 
youth in Maryland say "I can," by empowering them through 
providing assistive technology and scholarships to camps and 
conventions which help them be equal with their sighted peers.  
For more information about the Foundation and to support our 
work, visit us online at www.icanfoundation.info!

Sent from my BrailleNote Apex

 ---- Original Message ------
From: "Amy Sabo" <amylsabo at comcast.net
Subject: [nabs-l] FW: [nfbmi-talk] FW: article about Cary Supalo
Date sent: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:36:29 -0700

Hello all,

Here is a very interesting article that I got from the nfb of mi
list this week.  Please read on for more information....





November 8, 2011

News Release

West Lafayette, Ind.  - A Purdue Research Park-based company has
received a
$500,000 SBIR Phase II award from the National Science Foundation
(NSF) to
develop technology that enhances hands-on science learning for
students
affected by blindness and low vision.
Independence Science LLC will use the award to further develop
Talking
LabQuest, the first portable scientific data collection device
equipped with
text-to-speech technology to help students in science laboratory
classrooms.

The company is developing Talking LabQuest in partnership with
Vernier
Software & Technology LLC of Beaverton, Ore.; HumanWare Inc.  of
Drummondville, Quebec, Canada; and ViewPlus Technologies Inc.  of
Corvallis,
Ore.

Cary Supalo, president and founder of Independence Science, said
the NSF
award will allow his company to work with HumanWare and ViewPlus
engineers
to create peripherals from their access technology products,
including
BrailleNote, Tiger Braille embossers, the IVEO Learning System
and the Audio
Graphing Calculator.

"HumanWare's BrailleNote is the most popular electronic
note-taking device
in the blind community.  Students use it to take notes in class,
check email,
search the Internet and perform GPS navigation.  We would like to
use it as a
data collection device when interfaced with Talking LabQuest,"
Supalo said.
"We hope to use ViewPlus' Tiger Braille embossers to make
raised-line
drawings of graph data and to interface the IVEO Learning System
to provide
touchscreen navigation.  ViewPlus' Audio Graphing Calculator
allows a student
to type algebraic equations on a computer keyboard.  These tools
will enhance
the usefulness of the Talking LabQuest to the end user."

Supalo said Talking LabQuest can empower students who are
underrepresented
in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  He
said research
indicates that students who receive positive hands-on experiences
have
greater interest in science learning, which increases academic
achievement.

"This also is true for underrepresented populations, including
students with
visual impairments," Supalo said.  "The Talking LabQuest can
empower students
in the laboratory, classroom and in the field.  They can collect
acceleration
and velocity data at an amusement park alongside their
classmates.  They can
track temperature of foods and pH levels in swimming pools or
fish tanks.
This device is empowering both teachers and their students with
blindness
and low vision in having more hands-on science learning
experiences."

About Independence Science LLC

Officials at Independence Science are making their expertise
available to
help school districts, colleges and universities, and state
rehabilitation
agencies across the country meet Americans with Disabilities Act
requirements in the science curriculum.  These technologies are
being made
available to further serve as a dissemination tool to benefit any
blind and
low-vision student in the United States.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park has the largest university-affiliated
business
incubation complex in the country in four locations across
Indiana.  The park
network is home to about 200 companies that employ 4,000 people
and are
located in West Lafayette, Merrillville, Indianapolis and New
Albany.

Source: Purdue Research Park

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