Ward Summer Students: Meet Anusha

The Ward Family Summer Student Research Program is a highly prestigious 12-week summer opportunity offered by the Bloorview Research Institute (BRI). This summer 16 students were accepted into the program, including 2 students in the lived experience and 1 student in the Indigenous steams.

The selected undergraduate students experience interdisciplinary mentorship, as they work on a research project within the field of childhood disability alongside some of the BRI’s leading scientists. The paid opportunity culminates in Ward Research Day, where students showcase their research to scientists, researchers, clients and families, as well as clinicians at Holland Bloorview and beyond.

Each summer new ideas and innovations are born out of student research, which often lead to larger and greater discoveries at the BRI. None of this incredible work would be possible without the support of the Ward Family and CIBC, and their continuous commitment to expanding what’s possible for kids and youth with disabilities.

Meet Anusha 

Anusha is entering her fifth year of the Integrated Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences program at McMaster University. She enjoys using her interdisciplinary knowledge in engineering and science to solve real-world problems in the health-care field. As a Ward Summer Research Student in the PRISM Lab, led by Dr. Tom Chau, she is using Unity, a cross-platform game development software, to develop a user-friendly, gaze-optimized keyboard application for the Hololens2. This augmented-reality (AR) keyboard enables users with fine motor skill impairments and complex communication needs to type a question or statement by simply looking at alphabetical keys on the interface. Data scraping techniques are then used to provide an answer from the internet. 

Anusha is an advocate for youth with disabilities. She wrote, illustrated, and published a children’s book called “Logan Learns to Play”, to raise awareness for diversity and inclusion in soccer. Anusha enjoys being involved in her community as a soccer coach and visual art instructor for youth with disabilities. She hopes to continue to use biomedical engineering to improve the lives of others.

Hi! My name is Anusha and I’m part of the Ward Summer Research Student program this year! Each week, summer students attend “Lunch and Learn” events where we take part in fun activities such as playing wheelchair basketball, or learning about topics including research ethics, and how to conduct literature searches.

This week we got a tour of the child-friendly research MRI which is tailored to create a calm and immersive MRI experience for children through different image and scenery projections. My favourite projection is the forest, which you can see in the background!
 

This summer, I’m working in the PRISM Lab, developing a gaze-based augmented reality keyboard application (right) for the Hololens2 (left). This keyboard resembles an internet search engine and allows children and adults with severe motor impairments to type queries and obtain answers. Right now, I’m transferring my code to Unity AR before testing out the keyboard and deploying the application!

I’m currently wearing the Hololens2 headset and testing out new features that I added to the keyboard earlier in the week. My favourite part about designing an application for the Hololens2 is creating an immersive experience for users as they can see the keyboard overlaid on top of their surroundings!

After I tested out my application, I decided to work on my code in the Coriat Atrium space in the hospital. Holland Bloorview has really neat rooms and spaces for students to work!

Next, I headed over to the Holland Bloorview Library to check out my book, “Logan Learns to Play”, that I donated to the hospital. I hope the story raises awareness for diversity and inclusion in soccer and inspires children with disabilities to be involved in sports.

During our weekly PRISM Lab meetings, I often learn about new research that is being conducted in our lab. This week, I’ll be sharing my presentation for the Ward Summer Research Day at the meeting, along with the other summer students in our lab. 

That’s a wrap for the week, thanks for following my work in the PRISM Lab!