Category
Audiom allows for non-visual, virtual visits to the Magical Bridge playground
June 8th, 2020
The Magical Bridge Foundation mission is to build playgrounds that can be enjoyed by all children. For the first time, it is now possible for blind and visually impaired visitors to view a nonvisual map of the Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto, at home, directly from their web browser using Audiom. Audiom was developed by Smith-Kettlewell researcher, Brandon Biggs, is a map viewing tool for the visually impaired. It allows non-visual access to route, landmark, and survey knowledge — critical information needed for navigation.
Bringing COVID-19 Data and Figures to the Visually Impaired.
May 9th, 2020
So much of the conversation about the COVID-19 pandemic has been about trends: curves and how to flatten them, models, exponential growth, and so on. These are usually conveyed visually, which means people who cannot see the graphs are excluded from the information driving our discourse, even if the raw data are screen-readable. With his A11Y COVID-19 project, Dr.
SKERI Welcomes Local Students for a Day of STEM Inspiration
April 23rd, 2020
Students from Everett Middle School joined us for a day of learning what it is like to be a scientist. The Field Trip was organized by IGNITE Worldwide!, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring girls and non-binary students to consider careers in STEM. The girls toured laboratories, met with scientists and worked on case studies. The field trip was part of our ongoing activities to increase STEM participation.
SKERI Scientists Spearhead a Face Shield Making Campaign
April 14th, 2020
Founded by Dr. Santani Teng, the Bay Area Face Shield Supply (BAFSS) has sent hundreds of face shields to healthcare workers in the community. Dr. Teng has been working with Drs Audrey Wong-Kee-You and Cecile Vullings, along with other volunteers across the Bay Area to provide life-saving personal protective equipment to healthcare workers as they work with COVID-19 pateints.
Harnessing the power of visual art for blind rehabilitation
March 1st, 2020
A Smith-Kettlewell scientist, Dr. Lora Likova, develops unique art training to drive brain plasticity in totally blind and visually impaired people.
SKERI Research Recognized with the Dr. Arthur I. Karshmer Award for Assistive Technology Research
February 24th, 2020
We congratulate Dr. James Coughlan, Dr. Huiying Shen, and Brandon Biggs, MDes on winning the Dr. Arthur I. Karshmer Award for Assistive Technology Research with their publication that aims to harness smartphone-based technology to query information about a multitude of objects in users’ daily lives.
SKERI researcher awarded grant to study echolocation
February 1st, 2020
Santani Teng, an Associate Scientist at Smith-Kettlewell, has been awarded a three-year grant from The E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind and Visually Impaired to study the neural processes of echolocation.
Brandon Biggs brings his assistive technology ideas to SKERI
January 30th, 2020
We’re excited to welcome Brandon Biggs to the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Brandon arrived in August to collaborate with Dr. Coughlan, Dr. Shen and Dr. Fusco to work on assistive technology research and development. This collaboration started last year, when Brandon met Dr. Coughlan at the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) International Conference in Reno, Nevada. Brandon was then enrolled in a Master’s program in Design at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada, which he completed in June.
SKERI scientists release Tactile Graphics Helper app for free download
September 30th, 2019
TGH (short for “Tactile Graphics Helper”) is a free iOS app from The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute that makes tactile graphics available for people with visual impairments. When you point your finger at a feature of interest on a tactile graphic, the app issues text-to-speech information about the feature.
The app is available
on the Apple App Store, and instructions on how to use it are here .
In Memoriam: William F. Crandall, Jr.
May 24th, 2018