[Ncabs] Student Seminar Potential Guest

[Cindy Bennett]

Wow, this is great! He is studying in the sciences, and stem talks are
always good, or he could simply give a short presentation of his
research since it is very interesting.

Cindy

On 12/29/10, Salisbury, Justin Mark <SALISBURYJ08 at students.ecu.edu> wrote:
> Dear NCABS members,
>
>    Please read this little article that I found on the main NFB website.  I
> think that this gentleman could be an excellent guest at our student
> seminar, especially since he works in Raleigh at that red school.  Everyone,
> please provide your thoughts about how he might best be able to contribute.
>
> Report from the Research and Development Committee:
>
> One of the longstanding interests of the NFB research and development
> committee has been the development of a refreshable Braille display that is
> considerably less costly than the Braille displays on the market today. The
> piezoelectric technology used to move the dots on today's Braille displays
> has been around since the mid 1970s with very little cost reduction or
> technological improvement. Just before the research and development
> committee meeting held on Wednesday, July 7, Curtis Chong, the committee’s
> chair, talked with Peichun Yang “Paul” Chang, PhD, a blind researcher at
> North Carolina State University, who is working on a project to use
> electroactive polymer technology to drive a multi-line refreshable Braille
> display.
>
> Dr. Chang's story is interesting. In 1992 he came to the United States from
> China to study at North Carolina State University's materials science and
> engineering department. After five years of study he obtained his PhD in
> 1997. For seven months he performed post doctoral work in the campus
> microelectronics laboratory. In 1998 he lost his sight as the result of an
> accident. After he got out of the hospital, he spent a year receiving
> training in the alternative techniques of blindness--learning Braille,
> nonvisual access to the computer, and independent travel. During this period
> it became apparent to him that a refreshable Braille display could be a very
> useful tool for someone who is blind. He communicated with many people
> around the world in an effort to come up with a lower-cost Braille display.
> He even met with Deane Blazie, a pioneer in technology for the blind. In
> 2003 he attended an international conference on electroactive polymer
> actuators and devices in San Diego. At this conference Dr. Chang
> demonstrated the concept of a model Braille cell using a hydraulic latching
> mechanism in the EAP-In-Action (electroactive polymer in action) section of
> the conference. After a few years of trying to secure grant funding, in 2007
> he and others at North Carolina State University secured a three-year
> field-initiated projects grant from NIDRR. Two years into the grant they had
> an experimental breakthrough that was published in a paper presented at the
> twelfth International Conference on Electroactive Polymer Actuators and
> Devices in San Diego. Dr. Chang told Curtis that in five years he expects to
> have a working prototype.
>
> In layman's terms this is what Curtis understood from talking with Dr.
> Chang: if electroactive polymer technology can be used to drive refreshable
> Braille displays, the cost per cell should be reduced by a factor of ten.
> The piezoelectric reeds driving today's refreshable Braille displays have to
> be cut using a diamond saw. The plastic used in electroactive polymer
> technology can be cut using something as simple as a razor blade. The
> intriguing thing is that Dr. Chang is himself a user of refreshable Braille
> technology. He uses it every day and clearly understands the importance of
> readable Braille dots and fast response times with refreshable Braille.
> Here’s hoping that this is the breakthrough we have been hoping for.
>
>
> Thank you!
>
> Justin
>
> Justin M. Salisbury
> Undergraduate Student
> The University Honors Program
> East Carolina University
> salisburyj08 at students.ecu.edu
>
> "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought
> without accepting it."    -Aristotle
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-- 
Cindy Bennett
uNC Wilmington Psychology major

clb5590 at gmail.com
828.989.5383