Award Data

Purpose: For most of the 20th century, students with visual impairments were placed in separate schools from their peers. With major advances in public policy, it is now more common that all students (regardless of such disabilities) be integrated within schools and in classrooms. Recent research demonstrates a lack of products to support the visually impaired in STEM (science, technology, enginee ...

This project develops FluentBuddy, a prototype application for iOS and Android platforms to assist in the treatment of speech and communication disorders with a focus on the physiological and anatomical system (i.e. voice disorders, speech sound disorders, motor speech disorders, and other disabilities in children and adults). The project has three goals: (1) enhancing sensory and motor function t ...

This project develops an ambulatory remote operated Tactile Awareness Prompting (TAP) system to be used within educational and clinical environments for students who have social skills deficits. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibit deficits related to social initiations and conversational skills. Children with such disabilities often do not have the necessary social skills to m ...

This product develops and evaluates a proof-of-concept, mobile speech-to-sign translator that integrates continuous speech recognition software with natural language processing and Vcom3D’s Signing Avatar animated American Sign Language technology. This speech-to-sign the application is designed to run on iPhone/iPod or Android smartphones, providing Deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH) learners the ...

Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (Deaf/hh) persons rely heavily on facial movements for communication, whether in American Sign Language (ASL), Signed English (SE), or Spoken English. In ASL, signers add “mouth morphemes”, similar to speech movements, to signs to distinguish concepts that use the same manual sign. Hard-ofhearing persons who use spoken communication, read mouth shapes to distinguish si ...

Defense Electronics Corporation (DEC) proposes an innovative radiation hardened by design (RHBD) and reliability improvement solution for silicon, III-V compounds (e.g. SiGe, SiC, GaN, InP, GaAs,), carbon nanotubes (CNT), and graphene. The method is based on analyzing chip-partitioned quiescent current signatures associated with failure modes common to these process technologies. Furthermore, the ...

This proposal concerns the detection of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) by using large networks of small, inexpensive, and robust gamma detectors. These detectors will be deployed where consistent surveillance would be difficult by any other means, like remote mountain trails. The proposal describes a novel gamma detector that is extremely robust and inexpensive. The new scintillation material is ...

Deaf and hard-of-hearing students lag behind their hearing counterparts not only in reading and writing, but in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. In previous collaborations, Vcom3D and TERC have developed PC-based and Mobile Signing Science Dictionaries for students in grades 4-8; and are currently developing a PC-based and Mobile Signing Science Dictionary for gr ...

In a previous collaboration, TERC and Vcom3D developed an illustrated PC-based Signing Science Dictionary (SSD) for students in Grades 4-8. Research findings show that the SSD helps build a communication bridge to promote teaming and communication of scientific ideas. However, at the end of the primary grades, scientific literacy levels of children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing already lag sig ...

The Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) has identified a need to improve the radiation hardness of advanced integrated circuit technologies. To be practical, this must be achieved in a cost effective way. This proposal by AET, Inc. directly addresses these concerns. Specifi-cally, this proposal provides a means to achieve significant advance in radiation hardness of large scale integrated cir ...