In an article published in the open access journal npj Digital Medicine, a Duke University one-year study was done with a mobile phone app with 1,756 families and shows promise in detecting autism based on a child’s emotional reactions and facial expressions. The iPhone app, called Autism and Beyond, was built on Apple’s ResearchKit platform.

The app first administered caregiver consent forms and survey questions and then uses the phone’s camera to collect videos of a child’s reaction while they watch movies designed to elicit autism risk behaviors - such as patterns of emotion and attention—on the device’s screen. Behavioral coding software then automatically tracks the movement of “video landmarks” on their faces and quantifies the data.

Autism screening in young children is presently done in clinical settings, rather than the child’s natural environment, and highly trained people are needed to both administer the test and analyze the results. “That’s not scalable,” said New York University’s Helen Egger, M.D., one of the co-leaders of the study.

In one year, there were more than 10,000 downloads of the app, and 1,756 families with children aged one to six years...

From May 14 - 21, more than 200 federally funded STEM projects will share short videos detailing how their work is helping to further research in the STEM fields.

This online showcase will include videos that discuss:

• Broadening participation & access to high-quality STEM experiences
• Innovative practices transforming education
• Partnerships that advance education
• Research informing STEM learning and teaching

For more information and to view the announcement in full, visit the Video Hall .

Please join presenters Kendra Bouda and Rachael Bower on May 15, 2018, at 1 pm EDT for this free webinar on archiving with ATE Central. The presenters will share tips on organizing your materials for archiving, using the archive submission form, and tracking your submissions online.

See what happens with your submissions behind the scenes, as ATE Central staff process your materials, add metadata, and make your resources discoverable to the ATE community and beyond. You will also learn how to find curriculum and other content that ATE grantees have created and shared for you to adapt and use for your own purposes.

Please visit the registration page to sign up

From Sunday, June 3 through Wednesday, June 6, Ashland University will be hosting a grant writing workshop for two-year college faculty members. The workshop will focus on how to effectively apply for Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grants and will include presentations, planning and writing sessions, and time to network with colleagues from institutions around the US.

Full-time faculty members in STEM disciplines are available to apply. Travel costs are available for this workshop. Please visit Ashland University's website for a full description and registration instructions. 

Students at Tri-C ’s additive manufacturing program worked directly with disabled veterans to create assistive devices during the summer of 2017. The students, who were working on a Capstone Project by partnering with the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, talked to a group of disabled veterans about what they would like to use these devices for. 

One veteran said he wanted to garden again. Others said they would like devices to aid in using eating utensils, shaving, and turning pages of physical books and e-books. 

The students used a 3D printer to make these assistive devices, which makes them easy to customize and for far less money than with traditional manufacturing methods. 

The instructor of the course, Maciej G. Zborowski, said he wanted his students to be able to apply methods learned in class to actual issues. “It is one thing to assign a project that is just a figment of my imagination, but I figured that it would be more impactful to test the students using problems that actually existed out in the real world,” he said.

Additive manufacturing is a growing field, especially in the medical industry. Tri-C offers a one-year certificate in their 3D...