| Kara Ashley Culligan, of the Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology Public Magnet School, is the National 2005 Hispanic Heritage Youth Award recipient in Engineering & Mathematics, sponsored by ExxonMobil. Kara’s contributions to engineering & mathematics are spectacular. Inspired by her family’s struggle with respiratory disease, she worked with leading allergists to find the most effective design for an ambitious project, Speaking Asthma, a revolutionary new inhaler. Conducting independent research during her free time at school to learn about electronics, basic circuitry and speech technologies in order to develop a prototype, she was able to create an attachment that uses audio feedback to instruct children in taking medication. Her prototype also recorded commands to guide the children through the medication process. She earned a Young Science Achiever’s Grant for research, second place in the North Jersey Regional Science Fair, and was recognized by the New Jersey Institute of Technology for their Women in Technology award as a result of her work. She was also selected to work with a small team to develop and present an environmental control unit for the MIT-Lemelson Competition, and volunteers for the Neuropathy Association, through which she helped organize a national raffle that raised $6,000 for neuropathy research. Of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent, Kara affectionately describes her culture: “I love the smell of the Cuban food cooking in my grandfather’s kitchen, the incessant flurry of remarks in rapid Spanish, and the vibrant music that would always warrant spontaneous dancing.” She will attend Harvard University in the fall, and major in Engineering and Economics. |
