Georgia Tech Research Podcast

Research at Georgia Tech is about finding connections between diverse ideas and disciplines. Those links are where breakthrough discoveries are possible. The Georgia Tech Research Podcast examines these efforts to develop exciting new technologies through interviews with our team of expert researchers who share their unique perspective and knowledge on a variety of advanced topics.

ATRP --Episode 18: Dr. Alex Samoylov: Farm Processing and Transport (FPAT) project 11/20/2024

GTRI's Women in Technology Award Nominees 11/13/2024

ATRP--Episode 17: International Food Automation Networking (IFAN) Conference 10/21/2024

Highlights From GTRI's 90th Anniversary Celebration 10/10/2024

Tech Connects: Courtney Crooks 09/23/2024

David Zurn: Regents' Researcher 09/16/2024

Tech Connects: Charles Domercant 08/14/2024

Lee Wadzeck: GTRI Leadership Award Recipient 08/07/2024

ATRP--Episode 16: AI-SLAMS (Artificial Intelligence driven Smart Low-cost Ammonia Monitoring System) 07/29/2024

GTRI's IRAD Program and the 2024 IRAD Extravaganza 06/12/2024

Machine Learning Operations (ML Ops) 06/04/2024

ISTD Military Graduate Research Assistants 05/30/2024

Tech Connects: Levi Boggs 05/24/2024

Meet Janaki Tambe, Director of GTRI's Project Management Office 05/07/2024

Tech Connects: Jie Xu 04/26/2024

Tech Connects: Comas Haynes 03/26/2024

ATRP--Episode 14: Intelligent Sustainable Technologies Division (ISTD) Co-Op Students 03/19/2024

ATRP--Episode 13: ATRP Research on Peanuts--Georgia's Official State Crop 03/06/2024

Tech Connects: Ai-Ping Hu 02/19/2024

ATRP --Episode 12: Dr. Konrad Ahlin-One Handed Rehang Exploratory Project 02/02/2024

Tech Connects: Ilan Stern 01/25/2024

ATRP 50th--Episode 11-Gary McMurray and Doug Britton 12/19/2023

ATRP 50th--Episode 10-Harrison Foundation Student Interns 12/04/2023

ATRP 50th--Episode 9-Harrison Foundation Fellows 11/29/2023

Beyond Compliance: 50th Anniversary of Sec. 504, Part II 11/14/2023

Beyond Compliance: 50th Anniversary of Sec. 504, Part II This episode is the second part of a special focus of the Georgia Tech Research Podcast on the 50th anniversary of Section 504, the federal law that became the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The host of this episode, J. Denise Johnson Marshall, ADA Compliance Coordinator at Georgia Institute of Technology, calls this series “a very special podcast for us at Georgia Tech.” The guests for this episode are representatives from Georgia Tech's Employee Relations Dept., Captioning and Description services, the CARES Employee Resource Group, and the Excel program. This episode is in conjunction with the creation of a special award at Georgia Tech. As a part of Georgia Tech’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Office of Equity and Compliance Programs – ADA Compliance established an award called Advocates for Accessibility. The Advocates for Accessibility award recognizes individuals who have actively worked to improve accessibility for people with disabilities in the Georgia Tech community. The guests for this episode are representatives from Georgia Tech's Employee Relations Dept., Captioning and Description services, the CARES Employee Resource Group, and the Excel program. Thank you to our guests from Georgia Tech's Employee Relations Dept.(Langston Jackson), Captioning and Description services (Sheryl Ballenger), the CARES Employee Resource Group (Asha Hagood), and the Excel program (Kenneth Surdin), and our host Denise Johnson Marshall. TRANSCRIPT: Announcer This is the Georgia Tech Research podcast presented by GTRI. Join us as we move forward one research story at a time. Announcer The views represented in these interviews do not reflect the views of the organization. They are anecdotal views of individual experiences. Eric Klein Welcome to the Georgia Tech Research Podcast presented by GTRI. This podcast highlights research and opportunities around Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Today's episode titled Beyond Compliance is in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Section 504. This is the Rehabilitation act, which became law in 1973. My name is Eric Klein and today's host is Denise Johnson Marshall. Denise Johnson Marshall Welcome to the Beyond Compliance Podcast. I'm your host, Denise Johnson Marshall, Director of Equity and Compliance Programs and also the Institute ADA Coordinator, and I'm part of the Office of Equity and Compliance Programs. Today we'll be highlighting the individuals that are behind some of the services that you may or may not know about at Georgia Tech and GTRI that help to impact the lives of individuals with disabilities. Today you'll hear from employee relations, captioning and description services, the CARES Employee Resource Group, and finally, the Excel program. Let's take a break from this podcast to listen to more about departments that we want you to get to know. Asha Hagood Get to know CARES ERG the CARES at GTRI Employee Resource Group is an inclusive community for employees who identify with having a visible or invisible disability, caregivers for individuals with disabilities, and allies of the community. Our mission is to create space for issues around accessibility by amplifying the conversation around accessibility inequity and by providing educational opportunities around accessibility compliance. We're seeking to grow our membership and have several cochair positions that could use your ideas and your voice as we gear up to provide information sessions and other fun events. If you're interested and are an employee at GTRI, please reach out via our contact form on Webwise. Cares and other ergs are listed there under the Communities tab. Denise Johnson Marshall Now that you know a little bit more, it's time to get back to the podcast. Our first guest for the Beyond Compliance podcast is Langston Jackson. Langston is the HR Compliance Coordinator for Employee Relations on our campus. Welcome, Langston. Langston Jackson Thank you for having me. Denise Johnson Marshall Can you briefly tell us the role of your office and briefly your responsibilities? Langston Jackson My office has several responsibilities. One of them includes the administration, Americans with disabilities reasonable accommodations process for employees. We administer that. The office is also responsible for coordinating the development of the Institute's Affirmative Action Compliance Program, as well as the administration of the university's impartial board of Review Appeals process and Procedures. Denise Johnson Marshall That's very interesting can you tell us a little bit about what elements of an employee's job responsibilities do you consider when you're considering reasonable accommodations? And also, could you define that a little bit for us? What are reasonable accommodations? Langston Jackson So under the ADA, a reasonable accommodation is basically a modification or adjustment to the job or the work environment that allows a person with disability to still perform the essential functions of their job. The essential functions are the major components of the job duties. Minimal parts of the job duties are not considered essential functions. It is the functions that take up a large part of the job aspects. Denise Johnson Marshall Do you have any examples of that? Langston Jackson Yes. For example, individual that's a courier, their essential functions may include driving, whereas your most administrative functions would not include that. That would be in office work. Accommodation for a courier would have to take into consideration driving requirements, whereas most individuals, they don't understand that ADA does not contemplate how they get to and from work. So what the ADA does take into consideration is the essential functions that they're taking when they are working. Denise Johnson Marshall So who decides what is essential? What isn't essential? You had an example of a carrier, and it may be essential to be able to get back and forth as far as those other types of tasks. Who decides what is essential? Langston Jackson What will happen in the accommodations process? My department will send a request for essential functions and job analysis forms to be completed by the employee supervisor. We typically ask that they return those documents to us within five business days. Those forms break down into percentages what the job duties are. We ask that they give us at least four and that the supervisor breaks them down into percentages for us to review and to consider in the accommodations process. Denise Johnson Marshall So what should an employee with a disability expect when they're going through this process? Langston Jackson It's an interactive process. It requires give and take from the employee, the department, and from our office. We obtain the essential functions in the job analysis forms, and a key component is another form called the medical certification form. That form gives us what the condition is. It gives us an idea if this is a temporary or permanent condition. It lets us know what the limitations are for the individual, and it also gives us recommendations for the accommodation for the employee that will help them best perform the essential functions of their job. Denise Johnson Marshall What type of guidance does your office give to the Georgia Tech larger community, such as maybe supervisors or HR business partners? Langston Jackson With regards to our interactions to supervisors and the HR business partners, we first and foremost try to make sure that they are aware and are sensitive to the accommodation for the employee. What we like to do with all of them is to ensure that we've gone over the process and the Americans with Disabilities act with them so that they understand certain requirements and certain things that the department will have to supply to the individual. What we often find is that individuals that haven't gone through this process before, we explain everything with regards to the essential functions, the medical certification form, and then we like to go over any questions that they may have. It's really a give and take. At the end of the day, we try to establish that the department can make their recommendations as well, and we're letting them know also what the employee is asking for. Denise Johnson Marshall So what is the best way for an employee to contact you if they just have questions or they want to get the process started? Langston Jackson Anyone wishing for additional information may contact the office at [email protected]. Again, that's [email protected]. They can contact me directly by email at [email protected]. Denise Johnson Marshall As our listeners may or may not be aware, we are also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation act of 1973. With that in mind, are there any final thoughts that you have on your office's mission and goals? Langston Jackson As we're celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the Rehabilitation act of 1973, we recognize the many strides that have been made and that there are many more that we still can improve upon for employees with disabilities. My office is proud to continue in advancing this work forward and here to assist and guide all employees at Georgia Tech with the provision of reasonable accommodations. Denise Johnson Marshall Langston, thank you so much for taking the time out to briefly talk about your office and what you do. Langston Jackson Thank you all for having me. Thank you for all that you do for the employees here at Georgia Tech. Denise Johnson Marshall Let's take a break from this podcast to listen to more about departments that we want you to get to know. Kendra Brown Get to know the center for Inclusive Design and Innovation the center for Inclusive Design and Innovation, also known as CIDI, is housed within the College of Design at Georgia Tech. The accessibility experts at CIDI have decades of experience in user centered accessibility research and delivery of services to help individuals with disabilities. CIDI's overall mission is to improve the human condition through equal access to technology based and research driven information services and products for individuals with disabilities. With its rich history of providing accessible solutions to an underserved community, CIDI has positioned itself as a leader in accessibility and inclusion. CIDI is committed to promoting technological innovation and addressing unmet needs by providing accessible and inclusive environments for all. Maintaining dynamic partnerships with universities, state agencies, publishers, nonprofit groups, and corporations allow CIDI to continue to expand its expertise and further advocate for accessibility in Georgia, across the country, and internationally. For more information about CIDI, you can visit their website at www.cidi.gatech.edu or you can contact their customer support team by phone at 404-894-7756. Denise Johnson Marshall Now that you know a little bit more, it's time to get back to the podcast. Our second guest today is Dr. Sheryl Ballenger. Dr. Ballenger, thank you so much for being a part of our second Beyond Compliance podcast. Sheryl Ballenger Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. Denise Johnson Marshall Dr. Ballenger is the Manager for Deaf and Harder Hearing Services as a part of the center for Inclusive Design and Innovation here at Georgia Tech. Dr. Ballenger, can you briefly tell us about your role within CIDI and your responsibilities? Sheryl Ballenger Yeah, I'd love to. I am Manager of our captioning and describe media services as part of CIDI. This is a unit that started in 2011 when CIDI was interested in entering into being able to provide services for students who were deaf and hard of hearing. My background being an interpreter for the deaf one point, and also with a degree in deaf Education, made it a good fit for me. We were able to then begin having captioning for classes for students in different colleges across the Board of Regents, as well as captioning videos that were used in educational environments. First series that we actually captioned was a welding series for one of the technical community colleges in Georgia. Denise Johnson Marshall That is very interesting. When we often see captions or audio descriptions, we know that it's there, but we really don't understand what it takes to get there. Can you tell us a little bit about that process? Sheryl Ballenger Sure. First of all, we're going to look at video captioning or caption Media, whichever way you would like to phrase that. Basically, that involves media access. Most of the media that we do work on is for education purposes, but we also serve nonprofits and other groups that post media to their websites and want those videos captioned. There's also speech to text systems and there's two main ones that are used. The first would be CART. CART, and that stands for communication access, real time translation. This requires a skilled stenographer who's using a stenotype machine and is writing at a near verbatim speed. No matter how fast the speaker is speaking, they're keeping up with them. And then another speech to text system that we use is called either Cprint, the software or Typewell. This type of captioning is meaning for meaning. The Cprint software was developed by National Technical Institute for the Deaf. They developed the Cprint software about 20 years ago or so in a way to make sure that there was a meaningful way for captions to happen for deaf students. The Cprint software actually uses a qwerty keyboard and is something that most people already have skill with to be able to provide once they do CPrint training. Denise Johnson Marshall How do you know what is appropriate to use in which instance Sheryl Ballenger That's determined by the user. If a student attending college will consult with their disability services office together, they, with their disability services coordinator can work out which would be the best for their use. CART does require near verbatim English skills, so that would be somebody who is a very strong reader and who can read to learn. And that's a different skill than just reading for enjoyment. Reading for learning is difficult for some people and then Cprint because of the way it was created by the technical institute for the deaf, because it's developed for a meaning based representation of what's spoken, is typically more of a form that's understandable by people who don't have the ability to really learn everything from reading and want to see that language put in a way that's more understandable. Transcripts are also available for both services, CART or Cprint, so they also kind of serve as a double accommodation so a student can have real time access with CART or Cprint, plus they get notes afterward that they're able to then use for studying later on. You kind of mentioned audio description. It's not really one of the speech to text systems at all, or captioning, but it is used on videos. Audio description is visual information that describes the action, what's being shown on screen, what graphs may include, that kind of thing. Denise Johnson Marshall So if I'm a department and I have an event and I want to get it captioned, what would be some of the things that I would need to take into consideration? More specifically, what is the difference between closed captioned and open captioned? Sheryl Ballenger Well, if you're planning an event, first thing you're going to want to do is put out a statement letting your participants know that you're going to have accommodations available. Usually one of those accommodations would be we're going to offer captioning, and when it's an event, it's usually cart because that's more near verbatim and that's what most of the audience is going to prefer not just people who are deaf and hard of hearing. Use cart people who need a little more support to understand what's going on, use Cart as backup for listening once it's determined that Cart is going to be provided as a coordinator or event planner, then you would need to contract with an agency that supplies cart. Once you have contracted with an agency that's going to supply your cart, you're going to need to make sure that the event, whether it's online or in person, has good audio and connectivity for connecting. If it's going to be with a remote service provider. In most cases, that's going to require testing in the beginning just to make sure that you are connecting and that the audio is nice and clear and that the cart captionist is able to understand and hear clearly. Now you asked about open or closed captioning. Those terms refer to the video captioning or caption media. When video captions are created, the choice is closed or open. Closed captioning means that the user will need to turn those captions on or off. If they choose to use them, they'll turn them on. So YouTube provides a way for turning captions on on a video. Televisions and things that people view screens always have a way to turn captions on or off. But in some cases, when you're showing videos that may be projected on a screen that are used for general information purposes, captions for those need to be open. So open captions are always there, they're burned onto the video. Those captions are not chooseable. You can't turn them off or turn them on. Denise Johnson Marshall How much time does it take for audio description and what does your team do. Sheryl Ballenger Regarding the time of how long it takes to have a video captioned or to set something up, or to have audio description added to your video. Video captioning that is accurate starts with a transcript, a correct transcript with punctuation, correct spelling, speaker identification and sound effects if there are any in the recording. Typically, that takes seven to 14 business days. For us at CIDI, section 508 calls for captions that are accurate and synchronized. That means there can't be anything that's not correct in the captions. For audio description, we start with viewing and writing a script of the action or visuals that may be in a film. The script is revised several times to ensure that it is both succinct and that it conveys the essence of the scene that is appearing on the film. Then placement of the lines in the script is determined. We don't want to make a video become longer or too much longer than what everyone else is going to view? Because that wouldn't be fair. We have to find places to fit the description in in the nonadio segments to make sure that audio described film meets our standards and what we want to see. As far as good audio description, that typically takes three to six weeks or so depending on the length of the video and the content. Denise Johnson Marshall Can you tell us what is the difference between automatic captioning that you may find on a lot of video conferencing platforms versus real time captioning? Sheryl Ballenger Accuracy is important here. If you were having a low stakes meeting, maybe it's just a small group. The employee is very familiar with everything that's going on in the unit, knows all of the types of systems that are used. This is not a training event. This is just a conversation that's going to happen between employees. Then that might work for using an automatic type captioning service such as something that's included in Zoom. But if you're talking about high stake settings, then the auto generated captions are not appropriate. The problem with auto... /episode/index/show/gtripodcast/id/28632643

Veterans Day 2023 11/06/2023

Veterans Day 2023 This episode is in commemoration of Veterans Day. GTRI has a longstanding and deep partnership with the military community. More than 90% of GTRI's research awards come from the Department of Defense, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Navy. Therefore, it is fitting that military-focused events and holidays are prominent on GTRI's calendar. With Veterans Day around the corner, we wanted to talk through some leadership and mentoring questions from a female perspective. This podcast episode has been developed to help understand the "ins and outs" of professional development within the United States military, Georgia Tech, and GTRI. The guest in this episode is Dr. Anne Clark – Chief Scientist with the Air National Guard Programs Division (ANGPD) at GTRI and a retired USAF colonel. She helps provide content to our world that we can use for better leadership guidance and professional opportunities. We have developed some commonly asked questions derived from LinkedIn comments. In this recording, we will be attributing the questions to comments inspired by contributors from the LinkedIn platform to the individuals wanting to hear Dr. Clark’s perspective on this topic. Below are the time stamps and contributors that best represent the question being asked. Time Stamp 5:16 - Question #1: Inspired by Michael AD Time Stamp 10:53 - Question #2: Inspired by Deb Van Caster Time Stamp 15:04 - Question #3: Inspired by Georgia Riggs Time Stamp 19:41 - Question #4: Inspired by Lee Riddle Time Stamp 22:26 - Question #5: Inspired by Brianna Herron Time Stamp 26:13 - Question #6: Inspired by Afsaneh A. Time Stamp 29:43 - Question #7: Inspired by Billy Starkey Time Stamp 33:14 - Question #8: Inspired by Dr. Mark T. Maybury Time Stamp 38:43 - Question #9: Inspired by Chelsea Selby We want to thank everyone for contributing to this project and helping get the right questions, to the right person, at the right time. /episode/index/show/gtripodcast/id/28526687

Employee Development and Quest LMS 10/30/2023

ATRP 50th--Episode 8-Brian Kiepper on ATRP's Coordination With the University of Georgia 10/03/2023

ATRP 50th--Episode 8-Brian Kiepper on ATRP's Coordination With the University of Georgia is devoted to the Agricultural Technology Research Program's collaborations with the University of Georgia (UGA) Poultry Science Department. ATRP works closely with UGA for research projects to support the poultry industry. The guest for this episode is Dr. Brian Kiepper. Brian is an associate professor and extension specialist-- a jack of all trades. He conducts research, is an extension specialist, teaches, and is an adjunct appointment within UGA's College of Engineering. Kiepper speaks with host Stephanie Richter, a GTRI The episode comes just as UGA is completing construction on its new Poultry Science Building. The $54 million, 70,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility is scheduled to be completed Oct. 6. Kiepper says he can see the edifice right outside his office window. Kiepper's commitment to all things poultry is encapsulated in a class he regularly teaches at UGA: “Chicken Que: Science Behind the Grill.” In the largely hands-on course, Kiepper not only teaches students about the poultry industry, he adds a little "spice" by teaching them about locally grown peppers and other seasonings and flavors. In the podcast interview, Kiepper "peppers" his answers with stories about his life and professional development. The former Zookeeper began his relationship with university agricultural programs through his work with a pollution-prevention organization focusing on wastewater issues. Inevitably, his work became linked with agriculture programs at both Georgia Tech and UGA, and by "extension," the state of Georgia's massive poultry industry. "It's staggering to think there are about 11 million people living in the state of Georgia, but we raise almost one and a half billion chickens in this state every year," Kiepper tells Richter. "It's almost hard to get your brain around from all industries slowly and surely." On his ongoing work with Georgia Tech, he says, "We're all part of the university system of Georgia. So I have people at Georgia Tech who might not be {formally recognized by the state of Georgia] state specialists, but they're my state specialists. When I call and get a question that I need help on, that expertise gets tapped." He speaks extensively on a major project he is working on along with researchers from Georgia Tech, called the "Processing of the Future Project." "What I really love about this Processing of the Future Project is it's trying to break down all these old walls we built all the time on why you can't do something. Innovation is really tough to do when you have a mindset of any kind of suggestion of a new way to do something, trying to think of all the different aspects that are going to keep you from doing that, all the current roadblocks that are in place, whether it be environmental, whether it be financial, whether it be whatever that stop you from doing that. "This idea started with that genesis of Georgia Tech sitting in rooms challenging myself every time crazy idea comes up, don't think of the hundred reasons why it's not going to work. Think about the possibilities if it did work." /episode/index/show/gtripodcast/id/28209758

Beyond Compliance: 50th Anniversary of Sec. 504 09/27/2023

ATRP 50th--Episode 7-Agricultural Technology Research Program 50th Anniversary Celebration 08/23/2023

Georgia Tech Research Podcast

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