[Ncabs] Student Seminar Potential Guest

Tue Jan 4 00:33:45 UTC 2011

Hi Jewel,

     Preston has already retrieved his contact information.  Thank you for the offer, though.

Take care,

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
________________________________________
From: ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org [ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Jewel S. [herekittykat2 at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2010 10:44 PM
To: North Carolina Association of Blind Students List
Subject: Re: [Ncabs] Student Seminar Potential Guest

Dr. Y, who that article is about, is a member of the WFB. He doesn't
come to every meeting, because he is busy with said project, but I am
certain that we have his contact information in the records. Knowing
Dr. Y, he is always willing to talk about his project. He's an awesome
guy! This is a guy who, while at the rehab center, told Miriam Dixon,
"I want to make a full-page Braille display." and she was like "Ok..."
and didn't think he'd do it, and now she's so proud of him because he
Iis* doing it. Want me to ask Lusi Radford, WFB president, if we have
Dr. Y's contact information on file? I could pass it on to whoever
wants to call/e-mail him.

On 12/29/10, Salisbury, Justin Mark <SALISBURYJ08 at students.ecu.edu> wrote:
> Thanks!  I was kind of thinking about a combination of what you two were
> saying.  I think he'd be a good speaker for the fact that he's in a
> high-powered STEM career to inspire students to realize that they can do it,
> and I also think that it's important that we keep it close to our audience.
> We don't want it to be too technical.  I think having him tell them the
> impact that his new refreshable Braille display can have would be great.  My
> understanding is that it will be a lot easier for everyone to obtain one
> because they'll be less expensive.  That's one thing that the blind
> community needs.  Special new features will be interesting.
>
> I still want to hear ideas, though, so keep 'em coming, everybody!
>
> 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
> ________________________________________
> From: ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org [ncabs-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Cala
> Estes [cala.estes at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 7:13 PM
> To: North Carolina Association of Blind Students List
> Subject: Re: [Ncabs] Student Seminar Potential Guest
>
> I remember someone speaking briefly about this during breakout session
> last year. I would be interested to hear what he has to say, but we
> also have to consider our audience. If he could talk about the braille
> display, and how it would relate to students in the classroom, I
> believe that would better relate to the seminar at large. How would it
> benifit students? What would be the difference between this braille
> display and the current models as far as how assignments are
> completed? That sort of thing.
> If we could have him speak, it would be wonderful!
>
> Cala
>
> 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
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ncabs mailing list
>> Ncabs at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ncabs_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Ncabs:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ncabs_nfbnet.org/cala.estes%40gmail.com
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ncabs mailing list
> Ncabs at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ncabs_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Ncabs:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ncabs_nfbnet.org/salisburyj08%40students.ecu.edu
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ncabs mailing list
> Ncabs at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ncabs_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Ncabs:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ncabs_nfbnet.org/herekittykat2%40gmail.com
>

--
~Jewel
Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com

_______________________________________________
Ncabs mailing list
Ncabs at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ncabs_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Ncabs:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ncabs_nfbnet.org/salisburyj08%40students.ecu.edu