Mass Academy Students Receive Lemelson-MIT Grant
The Mass Academy team is one of only 8 teams in the country to earn this recognition. 
A team of Mass Academy seniors has been selected as a recipient of a 2024 -2025 Lemelson-MIT Grant. In addition to grant funding, the team will also receive year-long support to build a technological invention to solve their identified problem. The students, Samhitha Bodangi, Derek Desrosiers, Abigail Figueroa, Kruthi Gundu, and Charuvi Singh, are the founders of Team DOT (Diversifying Optical Technology) and have been working on this project since spring of 2024. This grant will allow them to expand their team and continue to work on their design.
During junior year at Mass Academy, students work in groups to design and build assistive technology devices for the local community. For Team DOT, inspiration for an assistive technology project struck at Walkfit, a walking initiative created by visually impaired person (VIP), Liz Myska. Walkfit pairs sighted individuals with individuals with visual impairment to allow both to experience the world through new perspectives, bridging the divide between the sighted and the visually impaired. At the team’s first WalkFit, they were blindfolded and experienced a few of the difficulties individuals with visual impairment encounter on an everyday basis.
VIPs face significant barriers when it comes to accessing written information in everyday surroundings. Therefore, learning braille helps increase accessibility, opening doors to education and employment opportunities for adolescents with visual impairment. Through research and conversations with individuals with visual impairment in our community, the students identified the limited availability of interactive and affordable educational tools for teaching braille, leading to a large gap in braille literacy rates. This challenge inspired them to create a solution that empowers VIPs to learn and engage with written information in a more accessible way while providing the opportunity for younger VIPs to learn and practice reading braille. By addressing this issue, the students hope to make a meaningful impact on braille literacy and the visually impaired community. Currently, Team DOT is continuing to work with organizations like Walkfit, the Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Perkins Institute for the Blind, and the Massachusetts Commission
for the Blind to improve their refreshable braille display prototype. During the creation of the device, they strive to work directly with VIPs to ensure that the device is tailored to their needs. As Team DOT looks ahead to EurekaFest, they’re excited to showcase the progress they’ve made and continue learning from mentors and fellow inventors.
For the members of Team DOT, being an InvenTeam offers the chance to make an impact in the local community. “We feel privileged to be part of the InvenTeam initiative, which provides us with the support and resources to help the visually impaired community. Our InvenTeam—made up of 17 juniors and seniors—reflects this spirit, bringing together a diverse group of passionate individuals who are united by a shared vision of innovation and service. We’re proud to have the support of our school, local community, and the broader Lemelson-MIT network as we embark on this exciting journey.”
To learn more about Lemelson-MIT, click here.
Please follow Team DOT’s Instagram @mamsinventeam and visit their website, https://bit.ly/mamsinventeam, for more information and to stay updated with the team!
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