Testimonials Overview
Zhigang Zhu, Ph.D.
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, City College / CUNY
"The CREATE program is indeed a valuable source of support for our joint senior design program on Assistive Technology, collaborating between the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical Engineering, both at The City College of New York. It is not just the fund for our four student teams; the inspiration, the call from the disability communities, and final symposium in Albany, and yes, the partnership with Goodwill Industrial in Greater New York and Northern New Jersey, all add to the success of our student teams to develop software and hardware systems and applications for people with vision challenges and ASD, including those teams not supported by the CREATE awards. We would be pleased to be involved in the next academic year and the years to come!"
Doug Rosa
Student, class of 2017, Union College
"Working with the NYSID organization allowed me to exceed my own expectations of what I could accomplish. It was a true pleasure to work with a group of compassionate and dedicated people focused on improving the lives of others. I would encourage any future student to take advantage of the CREATE program.
Scott Seidman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering Chair, University of Rochester
"Our team took on the task of increasing the efficiency of the document preparation process for Lifetime Assistance’s secure scanning and shredding operation. Realizing that there were no staple removers designed for people who remove staples over long periods of time, our team redesigned a staple remover to meet that need, as well as to make it more accessible to people with motor disorders. They also worked out a process to speed up the quality assurance step in which a floor manager confirms that all staples have been removed.
"With the generous support of the CREATE program, we are able to provide Lifetime Assistance with about 35 improved staple removers, 3 quality assurance stations, full instructions for use, as well as detailed instructions on how to make more units should the need arise! We anticipate that this will increase throughput in the document scanning and shredding operation, which may facilitate expanded contracts, with more pay for employees because of greater efficiency, increased participation of workers with more severe motor disabilities who were previously unable to do this job, and a corresponding decrease on levels of government assistance.
In parallel, our team, and by virtue of the mechanics of our design program, our entire class of 74 students, learned that there are all sorts of people in their own community that could benefit from their engineering talents."
Joseph Levert, Ph.D.
Professor at SUNY Maritime
