Speakers: Sruthi Kumar and Norah Stivala

We will be hosting the Accessible Prosthetics Club at the University of Pittsburgh. In their lecture they will be discussing their education outreach and the accessories designed in the last semester. The talk will cover the co-design process, the challenges of prototyping assistive devices, and the importance of user-driven innovation in accessibility. They will also highlight their club’s community outreach efforts, which aim to connect engineers and makers with the disability community to create meaningful solutions. Attendees are encouraged to join the discussion and share their perspectives on prosthetic design and accessibility.

Join us for our upcoming Community Lecture Night! This will be a hybrid event, so people may attend either in person or online. Please register for the event whether you plan on attending in person or online so we can notify you of any change. All registered attendees will receive the zoom link regardless. Walk-ins are still welcome. Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZiDsPTtgSYS4hs1h7_oIVw

• When: Monday, May 19th from 6:00-7:30 PM
• Where: East Liberty Carnegie Library located at 130 S. Whitfield St., 15206 AND online via Zoom AND streaming on YouTube
• Parking: on-street (pay until 6pm) or in the lot behind the building (pay until 10pm)
• Public Transit: Nearby buses include the 71B, 71C, 74, 77, 82, 86, 88, and 89
• Building Accessibility:
  • Meeting is on the 2nd floor; there is an elevator inside the building, accessible from either the front or back entrance, and the meeting room is immediately across from the elevator.
  • Restrooms on the 2nd floor are accessible.
• Meeting Accessibility:
  • There will be sign language interpreters at all lectures available in-person and on zoom, and closed captioning available at least on Zoom. A limited number of wired headphone connections to the sound system will be available for personal sound amplification. You may use our headphones or bring your own. First come first served. Chat will be disabled on Zoom during the lecture to better serve people using screen readers. Participants will still be able to message the hosts.
  • When it comes time for the Q&A, people may ask in person, by asking in the chat so the host can read it out loud, or by raising their hand on Zoom so the host can call on them to ask by voice or by ASL.
  • For more information, check out our Technical Info page.
• Masking / Air Quality:
  • For the safety of immunocompromised and vulnerable community members masks with a minimum rating of KF94 or KN95 will be required for all in-person attendees. (Speakers and interpreters may be unmasked, but will be required to take a COVID test on the morning of the event.) If you are unable or do not wish to wear a mask you should attend via Zoom. 
  • Air filtration will be provided by Clean Air Tools Pittsburgh.

If anyone has any other access needs please contact accessmobpittsburgh@gmail.com as soon as possible, but no later than Wednesday, May 14th.

Speaker Biographies:

Sruthi Kumar is the president of the Accessible Prosthetics Club at the University of Pittsburgh. They are a junior mechanical engineering student, and they are a makerspace mentor in the engineering building. Norah Stivala is the vice president of the club, and she is a junior bioengineering student. They are both interested in designing prosthetics, and this last spring semester they managed a project through an organization called Tikkum Olam Makers Project. This project aimed to design three accessories for three prosthetic users to use in addition to their already existing prosthetic. Their work bridges engineering and community impact, aiming to create meaningful, user-centered designs.

Funding for this lecture comes from a grant from the Three Rivers Community Foundation.