Innovation @ Temple:
DEAF, BLIND STUDENT CREATES DEVICE THAT ASSISTS IN READING BRAILLE:
Temple engineering senior Scott Stoffel, who is deaf and legally blind,has unveiled the "palm Braille," his senior design project which assists the physically challenged in reading Braille. He conceived, designed, and created the "palm Braille" to assist those with vision and hearing disabilities who cannot read Braille because of sensory difficulties, arthritis, muscular atrophy or paralysis. The device converts computer text into Braille, which the physically challenged person can feel by placing the palm Braille against a part of their body that has sensitivity.
Scott himself suffers from muscular atrophy in his upper extremities which makes reading Braille in the normal fashion difficult. Stoffel, who was born with his vision disability and lost his hearing at age 19, is no stranger to such creativity. While living at the Helen Keller National Center for Deafblind Youth and Adults in the mid-1990s, he developed, coded and copyrighted a computer program and training manual for teaching Braille to the sighted staff at the Center. [inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/04/19/tech_life/BRAILLE19.htm]
Research @ Temple:
WASTE NOT: FLY ASH NOW BEING USED TO CLEAN CONTAMINATED WATER:
Researchers from Temple and Philadelphia universities are using the environmental waste product fly ash to remove heavy metals from contaminated water. Drs. Shahriar Jahanian, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Temple University, and Hossein Rostami, assistant professor of mathematics and science at Philadelphia University, have been using fly ash, sand, and activating chemicals to create reactive barriers, which can either change or destroy contaminants. Heavy metal pollution of groundwater is an extremely serious problem and costly to remediate. There are over 200,000 contaminated sites in the United States, with the groundwater being contaminated at over 70 percent of those sites, and more than half with heavy metal contaminants. [www.temple.edu/news_media/pm489.html]
Instruction @ Temple:
INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH PROVIDES RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES: Undergraduates participating in world-class research is part of a new interdisciplinary approach to education and research that has been initiated by Temple's College of Science and Technology (CST). Among the core philosophies behind this new approach is the creation of eight interdisciplinary academic centers such as bioengineering and biomaterials, biotechnology, computer science and applied mathematics, environmental science and technology, information science and technology, materials science and solid state physics, neurovirology and cancer biology, and science education, which pull together faculty from across the University to bring varying and unique perspectives into the classrooms, as well as provide venues where faculty can collaborate on interdisciplinary research programs.
It has also opened the doors for undergraduates in the College to be invited by faculty to participate in ongoing research projects. "Our undergraduate students are now being exposed to, and participating in, research activities that would have been reserved in the past for graduate and doctoral students," says Dr. Chris D. Platsoucas, Dean of CST. "This type of experience will greatly benefit them as they enter the workforce or pursue graduate studies."
Preston MoretzScience/Technology WriterTemple UniversityOffice of News andMedia Relations301 USB (083-41)1601 N Broad StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19122215.204.7476 | fax: 215.204.4403
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