IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2023 - 11

touching the body, " she explains. This
technology has been used to monitor
and identify people with abnormal heart
or respiratory rates, indicating nervousness
or health issues.
" That parlayed into a large interest
in expanding my credentials in biomedical
engineering, " describes August,
who went on to get a Ph.D. degree in
the field. She continues, " I was fortunate
to find people to work with who
had a similar vision and appreciated
the fact that biomedicine could be
user friendly for the patients as well as
for the physicians. " Projects included
creating a more effective text-to-signlanguage
system for phone calls with
people who have hearing loss, multimedia
language tutors, virtual agent
teachers, and a way of altering pronunciation
for text-to-speech applications
so that users could direct the correct
pronunciation of their names.
A project that was particularly special
to her involved functional magnetic
resonance imaging technology for brain
imaging, used with patients affected by
stroke. " Let's say after a stroke on your
left side that has resulted in hemiparesis
(paralysis) of your right hand, you
go for physical therapy. You may participate
in an exercise where your left
hand is tied down or hidden and you
are forced to use the paralyzed hand.
This can be very difficult and frustrating, "
details August. " Alternatively, the
therapist might have you use a mirror
to view your left hand in a position of
your right, affected hand. It looks as if
you can move your hand, but we didn't
know if this truly engaged important
networks in the brain. When we created
this exercise using virtual reality,
we taught symmetrical American Sign
Language hand gestures. Then we used
VR simulation in the fMRI laboratory,
and we could see that brain network
activation in the regions associated with
voluntary movement. This brain activation
was present during VR exercise
in healthy subjects and even in the paralyzed
subjects. "
After August became disabled, she
left the United States for a postdoctoral
position at ETH Zürich in Switzerland,
Former colleagues and current friends Mathini Sellathurai and Kit August at Bell
Labs. Both women volunteer with the IEEE SIGHT Group and serve on the ComSoc
History Committee.
exploring sensorimotor experiences in
virtual reality with robotic assistance.
She returned to the United States in
2013 and has since been volunteering
with IEEE and the Stevens Institute
of Technology in New Jersey as a
research guest alongside the highly
accomplished Dr. Victor Lawrence, her
previous boss at Bell Labs. " I want to
keep my hand in things, to share my
experiences with others, and to help
make technology more inclusive, accessible,
and transparent, " says August,
who is working on a body of standards
around technology for people who have
disabling conditions. " Assistance and
inclusion should be ubiquitous and
pervasive in mainstream technologies
wherever people go. IEEE standards can
lead the way to ensure inclusion and
accommodation are built in and not just
an afterthought. "
Mathini Sellathurai, drawn by Kit
August as part of her courtroom
style portraits.
DECEMBER 2023
Inspirations and Opportunities
Within IEEE, August serves as a member
of the Humanitarian Technology
Board, on the Taenzer Ad-Hoc Committee,
as vice chair of the Communications
Society History Committee, chair
of Region 1 Professional Activities Committee
for Engineers (PACE), chair of
IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE
11
IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2023

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