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1. Co-Designing a BCI Maker Experience with and for Neurodivergent Youth.

   Dahlstrom-Hakki, I; Robillard, T (April 2024, AERA)

   This describes the work of an NSF funded project that engages a team of young adult neurodivergent co-designers in the creation of a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) maker camp for neurodivergent middle schoolers. The project worked with a team of 6-8 neurodivergent 16-19 year olds participating in an ongoing paid internship to support all aspects of NeuroVivid. Co-designer recruitment, engagement, community formation, reflections, and impacts will be shared. 

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2. Creating a sense of belonging in a maker camp for neurodivergent middle schoolers.

   Bardar, E; Alstad, Z; Asbell-Clarke, J; Ong, M; Robillard, T; Dahlstrom-Hakki, I (July 2026, Springer)

   Riedinger, K; Ponti, G (Ed.)

   This chapter describes the design and pilot of NeuroVivid: A Maker Camp for All Brains, a weeklong maker program created to engage and support neurodivergent middle schoolers in inclusive, meaningful STEM learning experiences. Grounded in principles of project-based learning (PBL) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the camp engaged participants in hands-on exploration of brain–computer interface (BCI) technology, allowing them to use their own brain signals with circuits and block coding to power small lights and motors. Through a participatory co-design process, neurodivergent teens and young adults helped create accessible, engaging activities and supports that addressed diverse sensory, executive function, and social-emotional needs. The chapter details how our intentional design of physical and social environments—combined with asset-based facilitation, choice-driven activities, and executive function scaffolds—supported autonomy, confidence, and a sense of belonging among campers. Qualitative data collected through observations, conversations, and daily feedback highlighted strong engagement, emerging STEM identities, and moments of connection and empowerment. Findings from this pilot inform the next phase of design research and contribute to a growing body of work on creating neuroinclusive STEM learning spaces that broaden participation. 

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3. WIP: Developing an Interview Protocol to Unveil the Stories of Neurodivergent Engineering Students

   Brown, L; Spence, C; Cuellar, A; Thakkar, K; Karimi, H; Tsugawa, M (June 2025, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference)

   This Work in Progress (WIP) paper will present an interview protocol development that leverages social media analysis for capturing narratives of neurodivergent (e.g., ADHD, autistic, dyslexic) engineering students. The work presented in this WIP is part of a larger mixed-methods sequential research project which aims to capture neurodivergent engineering student narratives that describe their engineering experiences in terms of strengths and challenges. Through social media analysis, we identified key language used by the neurodivergent community (e.g., neurodivergent, spoon, forget). We developed a few initial themes such as multiple pathways to recognizing one’s identity of being neurodivergent, multiple ways in which neurodivergence symptoms are experienced, and the ways in which an individual internally and outwardly interacts with their own symptoms. To capture neurodivergent narratives, we plan on conducting semi-structured interviews with neurodivergent engineering students three times over the semester (beginning, middle, end). Initial interview protocols for each interview will be developed and adjusted throughout the interview data collection process. An initial compilation of relevant interview questions was compiled from previous research and from the objectives of the research study. This initial pool of questions will then be refined based on our thematic findings and using the nuanced language identified on the social media platforms TikTok, Reddit, and Twitter. Results of this work will be presented in this paper as an interview protocol that will continue to be adapted as part of this larger research study, but can also be used as a starting point for researchers exploring similar topics in capturing the experience of neurodivergent engineering students. 

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4. WIP: Developing an Interview Protocol to Unveil the Stories of Neurodivergent Engineering Students

   Brown, L; Spence, C; Cuellar, A; Thakkar, K; Karimi, H; Tsugawa, M (June 2025, American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference)

   This Work in Progress (WIP) paper will present an interview protocol development that leverages social media analysis for capturing narratives of neurodivergent (e.g., ADHD, autistic, dyslexic) engineering students. The work presented in this WIP is part of a larger mixed-methods sequential research project which aims to capture neurodivergent engineering student narratives that describe their engineering experiences in terms of strengths and challenges. Through social media analysis, we identified key language used by the neurodivergent community (e.g., neurodivergent, spoon, forget). We developed a few initial themes such as multiple pathways to recognizing one’s identity of being neurodivergent, multiple ways in which neurodivergence symptoms are experienced, and the ways in which an individual internally and outwardly interacts with their own symptoms. To capture neurodivergent narratives, we plan on conducting semi-structured interviews with neurodivergent engineering students three times over the semester (beginning, middle, end). Initial interview protocols for each interview will be developed and adjusted throughout the interview data collection process. An initial compilation of relevant interview questions was compiled from previous research and from the objectives of the research study. This initial pool of questions will then be refined based on our thematic findings and using the nuanced language identified on the social media platforms TikTok, Reddit, and Twitter. Results of this work will be presented in this paper as an interview protocol that will continue to be adapted as part of this larger research study, but can also be used as a starting point for researchers exploring similar topics in capturing the experience of neurodivergent engineering students. 

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5. An Expanded Survey of Seed Germination for Barro Colorado Island

   https://doi.org/10.5479/si.26880709  

   Garwood, Nancy C (November 2024, Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press)

   Muller-Landau, Helene C; Wright, S Joseph (Ed.)

   I present the largest survey of seed germination yet for Barro Colorado Island (BCI) and central Panama, based on 1,226 seed collections from 732 species, in 103 families, including trees, shrubs, lianas, vines, herbs, and epiphytes. Most collections were germinated in both sun and shade habitats in growing houses on BCI, simulating tree fall gap and shaded understory conditions. Many ad hoc treatments were also utilized. Data were collected during the field portion (1985–1989) of the BCI Seedling Flora Project. This publication marks the public release of the entire dataset, parts of which have previously been shared with BCI colleagues. I hope that this dataset will provide background information for those needing to produce seedlings from seed for experimental studies and that it will encourage others to incorporate seed germination as an additional plant trait into community analyses. 

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