Established in 2019 through an endowment from Richard and Jule Salem, the Judy Genshaft Honors College Grand Challenge is an annual competition that fosters Honors students’ creativity in developing solutions
to real-world challenges faced by people with disabilities. The 2024 theme, “Investigation
for Action,” gave students the opportunity to conduct their own undergraduate research
projects, exploring the everyday experiences of people with disabilities, proposing
feasible solutions, and incorporating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) to link their projects with global efforts for change.
University of South Florida first-year student Claire Kooy and third-year student
Alvin Varghese are the winners of this year’s Grand Challenge, making them 2024 Judy
Genshaft Honors College Salem Scholars. As their prize, Kooy and Varghese were awarded
funding to present their research at a national undergraduate research conference
of their choice in spring 2025.
ADDRESSING BARRIERS IN EDUCATION
Kooy’s project focuses on the challenges faced by deaf college students in lecture-based
classes. Video lectures and instructional materials are nearly ubiquitous in the undergraduate
learning environment, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the Americans
with Disabilities Act requires that all video content at educational institutions
be captioned, Kooy found that one-third of USF students reported no captioning of
their classes’ video materials.
Furthermore, instructors often use automatic captioning software, which typically
achieves only 60-90% accuracy. In rigorous college classes, inaccurate captioning
can be detrimental for deaf students’ education.
To address this barrier, Kooy proposed a student volunteer group to manually caption
video materials provided by USF instructors. This strategy would benefit deaf students
while offering volunteers valuable community service experience. Accurate video captions
also enhance retention for hearing people, improving the overall educational experience
for USF students.
“Being a first-year student, it’s such a privilege to be a Salem Scholar,” Kooy said.
“It’s good on a resume, but I also built a lot of empathy by trying to come up with
a solution to make progress towards a better way.”
CREATING CALMER HOSPITAL ENVIRONMENTS
Varghese’s research was inspired by his involvement as a volunteer at the nearby James
A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. He noticed many patients were uncomfortable in the busy
hospital environment due to noise sensitivity. Noise sensitivity is common among patients
with PTSD, autism, and other neurological conditions, but the World Health Organization
advises that low noise levels are essential for all patients to rest and heal effectively.
For his Grand Challenge project, Varghese proposed converting small, unused spaces
at the hospital into calm retreat rooms for noise-sensitive patients. Incorporating
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities, his research investigated the costs and benefits of converting spaces for this purpose,
emphasizing low-cost solutions with easy implementation and maintenance.
As an aspiring physician, Varghese found the Grand Challenge to be helpful preparation
for his post-graduation plans.
“I'm planning on going into the medical field, and a lot of patients have disabilities
that we need to be concerned about,” he said. “Being able to put all my ideas together
to find a solution is what I would do as a doctor as well. Most of the time it's not
one grand solution, but minor solutions here and there that improve a patient's experience
at a hospital.”
Kooy and Varghese will present their research at the national level this semester. The next Grand Challenge competition will be hosted in fall 2025.