65th Annual STS (2005-2006)
Finalists
Brittany Nicole Russo

NEW YORK
Brittany Nicole Russo, 17, of Merrick, studied how best to teach subjects to "see by sound" for her Intel Science Talent Search project in behavioral and social sciences. Intrigued by a system that converts visual information to soundscapes allowing the blind to "see" but taking years to learn, Brittany designed visual and tactile experiments to test learning approaches. In the visual experiment, subjects listened to a soundscape and selected one image out of four images shown on a computer. In the tactile version, blindfolded subjects listened to a soundscape and chose from four objects by feel. Both groups improved over time, however subjects over 30 did better in the tactile version while those under 30 did better on the visual version. Brittany believes further experiments could lead to the development of a teaching method that would facilitate learning a universal soundscape language. Brittany is president of the Key Club and a member of the Calhoun Leadership Academy at Sanford H. Calhoun High School. An accomplished pianist, drummer and dancer, she is the daughter of Joseph and Lori Russo. She hopes to attend Harvard or Brown and looks forward to a career in research or medicine.