BBB Partners

ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Conference

Kathleen Crespin — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 18:08:17 +0000

ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Conference Kathleen Crespin Tue, 12/09/2025 - 11:08

ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) Conference

Montreal, Canada

June 21-25, 2025

BBB team members, Stacey Forsyth and Tim Ogino, shared the project's research findings at the international ASEE Conference in Montreal, Quebec.

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Tactile Reading & Graphics Conference 2025

Kathleen Crespin — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 22:43:26 +0000

Tactile Reading & Graphics Conference 2025 Kathleen Crespin Mon, 11/24/2025 - 15:43

Four members of the BBB team met up with partners from around the world at the international Tactile Reading & Graphics Conference, held in Amsterdam, June 2-4, 2025.

Conference highlights included an accessible 3D printing workshop, led by Ian Matty and Richard He, multiple 'table talk' sessions, brainstorming with the global accessible 3D printing workgroup, and reconnecting with the Juniper and the Red Swoosh team!

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ASTC 2025 Conference

Kathleen Crespin — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:47:10 +0000

ASTC 2025 Conference Kathleen Crespin Mon, 11/17/2025 - 10:47

ASTC 2025 (Association of Science and Technology Centers)
San Francisco, CA
Sept. 5-8, 2025

BBB team members from Colorado, New Mexico, and New Jersey came together in San Francisco to lead a hands-on workshop on inclusive design. A big shout out to community partner, Marco Salsiccia, who joined us to lead a station on tactile design and BlindSVG!

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NSF STEM Day - May 10th 2025

Kathleen Crespin — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:54:44 +0000

NSF STEM Day - May 10th 2025 Kathleen Crespin Mon, 08/25/2025 - 08:54

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) commemorated its 75th anniversary on May 10th, 2025. Many of the discoveries and innovations that we use every day - including GIS technologies, the internet, AI and Duolingo - are the result of NSF investments in STEM. The free event showcased some of the research projects, education initiatives, and public science communication efforts that the NSF has funded at CU Boulder and CU Anschutz. CU Science Discovery organized and led the celebration with its Build a Better Book partners at Mountain Lakes Library in New Jersey, Explora Science Center in New Mexico, Laredo Public Library in Texas, and Arecibo C3 Center in Puerto Rico. The celebration at all 5 sites included activities and demos for the public, young and old!

CU Science Discovery Interns demonstrate various projects created during their 2022, 2023 & 2024 Build a Better Book Summer Internships. Projects included laser cut accessible games - Ingenious and Chess and 3D printed Chess and Othello/Checker pieces.

Activities at each site included:

Braille Embosser with text blocks that say "Build a Better Book"
Braille Twister dots
Braille Eggs
Braille Legos
3D printed Braille Crayon caps, crayons and swell paper coloring pages.
Each site had a tactile laser cut map of their state and the Public used fabric and craft materials to create a Tactile Map of their State.

�Թ�� of Colorado Boulder (Main Internship site): Led the coordination, design, and dissemination of activities and experiences for STEM Day events and hosted a main event at the Engineering Center that showcases BBB intern projects and maker activities.

Our longtime Build a Better Book Partner, Mountain Lakes Public Library in New Jersey, who ran internship from 2022-2024, hosted an interactive event showcasing BBB intern projects and a braille book launch.

Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum, Albuquerque, NM ran BBB Internships the summers of 2024 & 2025. They shared BBB intern work in the Electricity exhibit area as part of the museum’s larger STEM Day experience.

Another BBB network partner in Texas, Laredo Public Libraries, leveraged STEM Day participation to build staff capacity and utilized BBB resources and activities in their community programming.

Our newest BBB network partner, Arecibo C3 Center in Puerto Rico is the site of the old Observatory. Their STEM Day coincided with the center’s grand opening event and enabled them to emphasize its commitment to inclusive values by supporting their community members with disabilities.

NSF impact poster

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Build a Better Book: Teens Using STEM to Create a User-Friendly World

Kathleen Crespin — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 23:44:18 +0000

Build a Better Book: Teens Using STEM to Create a User-Friendly World Kathleen Crespin Thu, 02/06/2025 - 16:44

Build a Better Book partner Analiza Perez-Gomez with Laredo Public Library in Texas was featured in an article by ALA (American Library Association). Read about how she implemented BBB's approach to using Empathetic Engineering & STEM to create Accessible Products. Read full article here.

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BBB Welcomes Summer Interns in CO, NJ & NM

Anonymous — Wed, 29 May 2024 21:57:06 +0000

BBB Welcomes Summer Interns in CO, NJ & NM Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/29/2024 - 15:57

Summer 2024 is a busy time for Build a Better Book! We have 3 sites hosting Teen Internships in Colorado - CU Boulder, New Jersey - Mountain Lakes Public Library, and New Mexico - Explora! Science Center & Children's Museum.

Colorado Teen Interns hail from various Denver Metro High Schools including:

Alexander Dawson High School
Boulder High School
Fairview High School
Lakewood High School
Monarch High School
Northglenn High School
Pinnacle Charter High School
Salida High School
Stargate High School

New Mexico Teen Interns come from an assortment of Albuquerque High Schools:

Albuquerque High School
Albuquerque School of Excellence
Digital Arts and Technology Academy
Eldorado High School
La Cueva High School (LCHS)
Sandia High School
Santa Fe Indian School
Veritas Scholars Academy

New Jersey Teen Interns are all patrons of Mountain Lakes Public Library and have been working with Ian Matty in the Library Makerspace over the last couple of years.

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Kentucky Young Adult and Children in Public Libraries (KYAC) Conference

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 21:27:03 +0000

Kentucky Young Adult and Children in Public Libraries (KYAC) Conference Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/26/2023 - 15:27

Virtual Conference Presentation

Build a Better Book: Meaningful Making in Public Library Makerspaces

October 19, 2023
1:00pm MT

Presenters: Kathryn Penzkover (CU Science Discovery) and Analiza Perez-Gomez (Laredo Public Libraries)

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Making a Difference

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 20:09:49 +0000

Making a Difference Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/27/2022 - 14:09

Students at Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in New Jersey jumped on board their school's Build a Better Book initiative called "Making a Difference". In partnership with the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI), Ma'ayanot students completed an in-depth STEAM and Maker course developing interactive educational toys and games for children at SCHI. Teachers Reyce Krause, Gillian Cofnas, and Gila Stein developed a robust curriculum that engaged students in 1) Learning through empathy and understanding visual impairments, 2) Product Design and Prototyping through testing, feedback, and iterations of their designs, and 3) Device Construction which challenged students to create products that were both aesthetic and robust enough to stand up to handling and use in the classroom.

After meeting with teachers and therapists at SCHI, students were given a profile of a SCHI child and went to work designing a customized product that reflected their child's interests and abilities. Since many of the SCHI children have cortical visual impairment (CVI), Ma'ayanot students used an array of Maker technologies to design devices with high color contrast, motion, sound, and lights to help focus attention and engage the viewer. After many months of hard work, re-designing, and STEAM skill-building, the students shared their projects at Ma'ayanot's STEAMposium and then presented the final products to the children at SCHI.

Guided by a "Focus on simplicity in concept and design, beauty in construction, maximum impact", the collaboration between Ma'ayanot and SCHI truly made a difference to everyone involved.

Customized projects often incorporated a SCHI student's name and interests. View images of more projects.

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Webinar: BBB Virtual Conference 2021 (September 13-14)

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 03:14:56 +0000

Webinar: BBB Virtual Conference 2021 (September 13-14) Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/05/2021 - 21:14

Build a Better Book was pleased to host a virtual conference on September 13-14, 2021! If you missed the conference, you can still view the session recordings on the BBB Virtual Conference 2021 webpage. Get inspired to start a Build a Better Book project at your library, school, or makerspace!

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BBB Small Grants Awarded

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 20:04:21 +0000

BBB Small Grants Awarded Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/22/2020 - 13:04

Build a Better Book finished out the year by awarding Participant Support grants of up to $750 to ten partners around the country. Each organization submitted a proposal and request for materials that will support their on-going or new BBB projects. Most of the projects will be completed in 2021 but a few have already started. We are impressed with the creativity and innovation of each site in finding ways to explore universal design and accessibility with their students through hybrid and remote learning. Hewitt-Trussville Middle School in Alabama expanded their students' ability to create with a set of Specdrums rings that connect colors with sounds. Mountain Lakes Public Library in New Jersey continued the final stages of a two-year project with students developing a marble run Hex Game. They will be delivering ten 3D printed games to BVI students for feedback on their designs.

Congratulations to our grant recipients and we look forward to sharing more about their BBB projects in 2021!

Hewitt-Trussville Middle School - Alabama
Laredo Public Library - Texas
Yonkers Public Schools - New York
Central Michigan �Թ�� Center for Excellence in STEM Education - Michigan
Washington Leadership Academy - Washington D.C.
Saint Thomas the Apostle School - California
Middletown Free Library - Pennsylvania
Luna Cultura - Colorado
�Թ�� of Indianapolis/ Raymond Brande Elementary School - Indiana
Mountain Lakes Public Library - New Jersey

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