[Promotion-technology] STEM Accessibility Research

[Hayden Dahmm]

Hello everyone,

I’m a rising sophomore with a vision impairment at Swarthmore
College, where I intend to major in Environmental Engineering.  This summer, I’m researching in the
Swarthmore Engineering Department on ways of making STEM subjects more
accessible to the blind, with potential collaboration with labs at Drexel
University and the University of Pennsylvania. Our work has three foci…

1.) Developing models specific to my fall classes. For
electrical Engineering, we will use K’NEX to illustrate circuits. For Chemistry
and Calc 3, we might use 3-D printing.

2.) Studying/applying data sonification. We plan to use
quadraphonic headphones paired with a joystick to interrogate spatial data
using ChucK or Matlab.

3.) Developing refreshable, tactile displays. We might try
creating embossed images with new Piezo actuators or a modernized version of
the Optacon. As a short term solution, we also plan to work on an IOS app that
could take in a diagram and vibrate when the user's finger crosses a line.

 

I would love to hear any thoughts you might have on my research
topics. I would be glad to give more info if anyone is interested.

Best regards,

Hayden

hwdahmm at live.com

610-405-0098