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The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award

Letter of Recommendation Form
Thank you for your support of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards program.
Please complete the form below to submit your letter of recommendation in support of the award nominee. Recommendations cannot exceed 800 words. You will not be able to submit your recommendation if the maximum word count exceeds 800 words.
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Please enter your letter of recommendation in the text area provided below: I am writing a letter of support for the nomination of Geneva Lake Astrophysics and STEAM (GLAS) Education Inc. for the 2023 Bolotin award for their work from 2020-present. Kate Meredith, founder and Director of GLAS Education, has undoubtedly demonstrated exemplary leadership and extraordinary accomplishments in improving the lives of BLV people in the United States and beyond, through initiating, organising, scheduling and managing the ‘Sonification World Chat’ (SWC). I have worked with Kate Meredith since February 2020, when I was invited to join the first ever virtual meeting of the SWC. This was at the start of the COVID pandemic, and for many of the attending scientists, developers and others working with sonification, including myself from the education field, this was a unique opportunity to meet with people from around the world, like-minded people, all passionate about accessibility, whom would not have met if it were not because of this SWC. As as a result of these monthly meetings (ongoing), many great projects have originated from collaborations that otherwise may not have seen the light. Sonification has huge potential to improve access to mathematics and science in general for people who are blind or have low vison (BLV). My professional work (Sonokids) is the development of educational game apps for students (BLV) that support technology and digital skills. As part of the SWC I lead a working group ‘Learn’ which is working to introduce sonification in STEM and Art curricula in mainstream schools, by developing multi-sensory lesson plans enabling full participation of all students, including BLV. In that project, we make use of some of the learnings and accessible curricula developed by GLAS. Last year, the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs used National Day for People with Disability to make a statement about the power of sonification. The Office’s message stressed that it is fundamental that we all work together to ensure that all who want the opportunity to pursue education or careers in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math have the chance to do so, which is GLAS’ mission statement. GLAS’s SWC is an enabler of this, a world first platform where people from around the world can share expertise, support, and collaborate on sonification for accessibility, including many from the BLV community in the United States. It cannot be underestimated how much time Kate and GLAS students put into this project, working with extreme dedication, to make the SWC a platform for BLV students, scientists and other professionals to have better opportunities for STEAM education employment. We all know that barriers to access are a fundamental issue around the world, due to the general use of visualization of graphs, charts, and real data output in STEM. GLAS Education advocates for the opportunities that sonification carries to improve this situation for BLV people in access to STEM, real and ‘big’ data sets, and scientific publications for research purposes, and hence improved opportunities for employment in STEM related fields or pure science. The SWC has helped create projects and collaborations that raise awareness for accessibility considerations. With SWC's encouragement, an accessible app was created for BLV students to learn sonification and develop skills for future STEM education. The SWC also organized two week-long workshops, Audible Universe 1 and 2, where professionals from around the world discussed the use of sonification to improve access to astronomy data and space sciences. Outcomes were published in renowned scientific journals, including Nature Astronomy, which used embedded sonifications in their article. SWC provided important information on embedded sonification files, shared with an organization that writes guidelines for accessible textbooks and ePubs. I am in awe of the drive, dedication and never fading passion of GLAS Education’s Director Kate Meredith, who continues to work in close collaboration with the BLV community in the US on improving accessibility through sonification, while having to strongly advocate for financial support for this project, as government and funding bodies not yet appreciate the power of sonification to improve access to STEAM of BLV people. Globally, awareness of sonification is increasing. The International Community for Auditory Displays (ICAD) has themed its annual conference as 'Sonification for the Masses', indicating the goal of making sonification accessible to everyone, including researchers, experts, and the general public. SWC's establishment has strengthened connections between ICAD and the initiative, which aims to enhance accessibility through sonification. GLAS Education deserves thanks for initiating the SWC, and efforts to sustain it will continue. GLAS Education is a shining light, a leader and innovator, an inspiration to others to ensure we all keep working towards better access to STEAM. If ever there is a deserving winner of the Bolotin Award, it is GLAS Education. Phia Damsma Director Sonokids Australia Fellow University of Southern Queensland (AUS) Co-president South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment
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The Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award

Letter of Recommendation Form