Baylor Professor’s Lab Making Science Accessible for the Blind & Visually Impaired

Dr. Mona Minkara, a bioengineering professor at Northeastern University in Boston, was in Waco last week — a long way from the campus she calls home. The reason for her trip? To join Baylor Chemistry’s Dr. Bryan Shaw in his lab, demonstrating to students from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI) what she longed to hear at their age.

“I’ve been blind since I was a kid, and all I wanted to do was be a scientist,” Minkara says. “And all I heard was that I couldn’t be a scientist. So, to get to the point where we’re training the next generation to have the option to choose science? I can’t even describe to you in words how that hits me.” Some of Shaw’s approaches are high-tech, using advanced robotics to help measure, pour and conduct precise experiments. TSBVI students utilized a number of common lab techniques without the equipment, and then with it — and their delighted reactions to being able to conduct chemistry research told the story. TSBVI students also enjoyed experiences with microscopy, protein purification and other tasks they could conduct as a college student. But in Shaw’s lab, they found a setting designed with them in mind.