[Fabs] Fwd: [NABS-L] Announcement For A Zoom Conference On How The Blind Can Do STEM

[Z'Leah Liburd]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Louis Maher via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Date: Fri, Feb 3, 2023 at 3:04 PM
Subject: [NABS-L] Announcement For A Zoom Conference On How The Blind Can
Do STEM
To: Nabs List (nabs-l at nfbnet.org) <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Louis Maher <ljmaher03 at outlook.com>


Hello,

The Science and Engineering Division of the National Federation of the
Blind and the National Association of Blind Students are presenting a joint
Zoom conference on how blind college and graduate students, and blind
professionals, are succeeding in courses and Careers to do with science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics.  The Zoom conference link will be
the standard NABS Zoom link shown at the bottom of this message.  The call
will occur at 8 PM EST through 9 PM EST on Sunday, February 26, 2023.

Topics will be of interest for blind students in middle school, high
school, college and graduate school and professionals. Parents of blind
school-aged children and educators are also welcome.

Currently, the scheduled speakers, topics, talk descriptions, and speaker
introductions, are:

Opening Remarks: Trisha Kulkarni, president National Association of Blind
Students, and John Miller, president Science and Engineering Division (8 PM
EST)

Speaker: Ken Perry  (8:15 PM EST)

Title: Producing Hardware as A Blind Engineer

Description: APH released the Submersible Audio Light Sensor (SALS) at the
end of last year, which is a Bluetooth light sensor probe for detecting
opacity of Chemical liquids. SALS is the brain child of the blind chemist
Dr. Cary Supalo.  Cary worked with a sighted engineer to create the
original prototypes which were standalone boxes. From that point, Ken
Perry, a Blind Senior Software and Hardware engineer, stepped in to
re-imagine the SALS device as a Bluetooth probe connected to IOS and
Android.  This talk will walk the path from Snap circuits, bread board and
Arduino, and finally to NRF bare metal chip, and programming and design of
the hardware.

Speaker Introduction: Ken Perry has been working in Access Technology for
31 years and has been doing electronics for longer. Ken began with
electronics early in life by helping his dad with anything he was allowed
to. By the time he was eight, he was the de facto tube tester for his
fathers at home TV repair shop. When he was nine, he helped his father
build their first Color TV a Zenith kit. Ken joined the Air Force right out
of High school following his father's footsteps as an Air force Electronics
tech, until fait redirected his steps into Disability retirement. With his
newfound adjusted vision on life, Ken returned to college and after
listening to the VA counselors he was told that he wouldn't be able to do
electronics. He took his electronics knowledge and used it to earn a
bachelor's in software engineering. In 2012 he began working with Orbit
Research to Develop the Orion TI-84 Talking Graphing calculator.  Then In
2013, His wife and family bought him a Robotics kit and Snap Circuits kit
that with his help they created accessible instructions for which he passed
on to APH to create the four accessible Snap Circuit kits. He has worked
with Orbit research on designs like orbit Reader, Graphiti, and with
Independent Science on designing the SALS probe. This year APH will be
releasing another one of his projects which is the Accessible Arduino kit
with tactile schematics and 16 starter projects.

Speaker: Annemiek van Leendert (8:30 PM EST)

Title: Support for reading mathematical expressions in Braille

Description: I will give a presentation about my PhD research. The main
question that guided this research was: How can Braille readers improve
reading and understanding of mathematical expressions? I have studied this
question from different angles. The emphasis was on research into tactile
perception, the professionalization of mathematics teachers and the
representation of mathematical expressions in Braille. In this
presentation, I will focus on tactile perception. I will show how
finger-tracking technology has helped me understand the finger movements of
Braille readers while reading mathematical expressions.

Speaker Introduction: My name is Annemiek van Leendert. I am educated as a
teacher of mathematics and physics. I have been working for more than 30
years at Koninklijke Visio, an organization in the Netherlands that
provides care and education to people with a visual impairment. My
expertise is mathematics for Braille readers. In 2021, I successfully
defended my PhD dissertation. The title of my thesis is Improving Reading
and Comprehending Mathematical Expressions in Braille.

Speaker: Diego Vicioso (8:45 PM EST)

Title: Getting Through Stem Without Braille

Description: LateX and document conversion programs can be used to replace
braille, but the learning curve is steep. Over the last two years, I have
tried to collect my different experiences and bundle them into a format
that's easy to understand.

Speaker Introduction: I come from a country where it is almost impossible
to learn braille or the nemeth code. I will try to provide descriptions of
what has worked for me, and what hasn't.

If you have any questions, please contact Louis Maher (713-444-7838,
ljmaher03 at outlook.com<mailto:ljmaher03 at outlook.com>).
-----
Join Zoom Meeting:
February 26, 2023, 8 PM EST

Zoom Links
https://zoom.us/j/4678833687#success

Meeting ID: 467 883 3687

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,4678833687# US (Germantown)

13126266799,,4678833687# US (Chicago)


Regards
Louis Maher
Phone: 713-444-7838
Email: ljmaher03 at outlook.com<mailto:ljmaher03 at outlook.com>

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-- 

Z’Leah Liburd (She/her)

National Federation of the Blind of Florida

Vice President, Florida Association of Blind Students

Board number 1, State Wide Chapter

Nyirah17 at gmail.com

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even
touched - they must be felt with the heart." -*Helen Keller.*


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