BMCC Student Team Among 12 Finalists for AACC/NSF Community College Innovation Challenge

Three Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) students—Computer Science majors Sharna Hossain, Jadgesh Inderjeet and Ryan Brandt—are on a research team selected as one of 12 finalists for Community College Innovation Challenge, a national competition offered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The 12 Innovation Challenge teams are from community colleges around the country and use science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to innovate solutions to real-world problems.

The BMCC Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) student team, led by Computer Information Systems (CIS) Professor Mohammad Azhar, is developing accessible and affordable Virtual Reality applications that provide an interactive learning platform for autistic children, and helps teach them essential life-skills.

In June, the team will attend a Virtual Boot Camp to share their ideas with experts and practitioners in the field and compete for cash prizes. They will interact with entrepreneurs and experts in business planning, stakeholder engagement, strategic communication and marketplace dynamics that support innovation in both the private and public sectors.

The Virtual Boot Camp will culminate in a Student Innovation Showcase with STEM leaders and Congressional stakeholders, and a pitch presentation to determine the first, second and third-place winning teams.

“AACC is pleased to have been able to reconceptualize the CCIC after postponing last year’s competition due to COVID-19,” said Walter G. Bumphus, president and CEO of AACC. “The students competing in this challenge are leaders in innovation, and their use of STEM solutions to benefit society are not only highly significant but necessary in helping to secure a strong future. Our post-pandemic world will need fresh, innovative minds to design creative solutions to help those that need it most, and we are excited to help facilitate the process.”

“It is truly inspiring to see the creativity and amazing talent of students in the nation’s community colleges, and I would like to congratulate the finalists for their hard work,” said Karen Marrongelle, assistant director for NSF’s Education and Human Resources Directorate. “We need to inspire new generations across all communities to explore the wonders of science and engineering, and CCIC is an exciting opportunity for students to start thinking about STEM careers. I look forward to learning more about their projects and the contributions these students will make to America’s STEM future.”

BMCC team shares a commitment to finding assistive technologies for autistic children

“One of my primary areas of research is to design assistive technology utilizing Social Assistive Robots (SAR) to help those with special needs in performing their daily tasks,” says Professor Azhar. “This includes the ways in which assistive technology can be used to support the elderly, deaf and mute people.”

In Spring 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic came into being, “our direction in working on assistive technology solutions for children with autism became more pertinent as students with autism and their parents faced school closures and limitations in access to other support services,” Azhar says. “We wanted to work on finding affordable solutions to help children with autism learn how to collaborate using mobile phones and virtual robots.”

That work by Professor Mohammad Azhar with Weida Jiang and Natan Schattner-Elmaleh was published and presented at the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction.

In order to share this research with students at BMCC, Professor Azhar created the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research group in Spring 2020.

“The group focuses on ways to utilize AI robotics and virtual reality to design solutions and supplemental assistive services,” says Professor Azhar. “All three students are part of the Community College STEM Innovation Challenge team and joined the ASD Research group to work on developing affordable and accessible solutions for children with autism.”

According to student team member Ryan Brandt, “While I am not autistic, I know what it is like to be overwhelmed in public and how difficult it can be to navigate seemingly simple things if there is too much going on around you. If what I have experienced is even a fraction of what autistic people face, then I understand a bit of the executive functioning problems that can keep autistic children—and adults—from operating freely in the world.”

For some of the team members, a project focused on the perspective of autistic people has opened their own perspective.

Brandt says the project has made him “aware of how much we try to push autistic people to conform to neurotypical standards of interaction. I am sure we all know how exhausting it is to put on our ‘work persona’ or ‘dealing with difficult family around the holidays’ persona. Imagine being expected to do that all the time, in every interaction.”

Funding for the research has come from the BMCC CUNY Research Scholar Program (CRSP) and BMCC Foundation Fund (BFF) Research program, says Professor Azhar. “I am currently seeking more funding to expand our group and further our study,” he says. “Our next goal is to design a real-world solution expanding on our current research and to conduct a user study.”  

To learn more, please visit www.aaccinnovationchallenge.com or contact ccic@aacc.nche.edu.

To receive updates about the Virtual Boot Camp and CCIC’s 2021 winners, follow @Comm_College or visit www.aaccinnovationchallenge.com.

If you are a student interested in joining the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research group or related research projects, or a faculty member interested in collaborating in this work, reach out to Professor Azhar at mazhar@bmcc.cuny.edu.

 

About AACC
As the voice of the nation’s community colleges, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), delivers educational and economic opportunity for nearly 12 million diverse students in search of the American Dream. Uniquely dedicated to access and success for all students, AACC’s member colleges provide an on-ramp to degree attainment, skilled careers, and family-supporting wages. Located in Washington, D.C., AACC advocates for these not-for-profit, public-serving institutions to ensure they have the resources and support they need to deliver on the mission of increasing economic mobility for all. https://www.aacc.nche.edu/

 

About NSF
The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2021 budget of $8.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.
https://www.nsf.gov/