Shaun Kane, a Ph.D. candidate researching in the field of HCI, is one of 11 winners of a $10,000 scholarship from Google and Lime Connect, as well as the recipient of a $1,000 grant from the Foundation for Science and Disability. Kane received the awards for his research examining how mobile computing devices can help people with visual impairments interact with technologies.
Kane says that the funds will allow him to work full-time on his dissertation research over the summer and will assist with other related expenses. He added that the awards will give him more freedom to work on his research.
"I'm currently looking at how we can combine cameras, especially mobile cameras, with computer vision to help a blind or visually impaired person interact with objects or recognize text in the environment," he says. "Now that many people are carrying high-tech mobile devices with them every day, there is a lot of opportunity to increase people's ability to access information wherever they are, which can be very empowering."
Kane credits his advisor, Dr. Jacob O. Wobbrock, the AIM Research Group and the iSchool with supporting him in his research. He says that the AIM Research Group has been examining how people with various disabilities use mobile technology in their daily life and how existing technologies can be improved to assist people with disabilities. He views the awards as strong support for this research and its potential to help people with disabilities.
The Google Lime Scholarship includes an all-expenses-paid trip to the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. Kane looks forward to meeting the other winners and other scholars in underrepresented areas in computer science and related fields.
Lime Connect is an organization dedicated to attaining employment parity for people with disabilities. It partners with Google to offer the Lime Connect scholarships to students with disabilities working in computer science and related fields.
The Foundation for Science and Disability is a non-profit organization that promotes the integration of scientists with disabilities into the scientific community and the removal of barriers that prevent students with disabilities from choosing a career in science.
Shiri Azenkot, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science and Engineering, and co-advisee of Wobbrock, also received a Google Lime Scholarship.