NYU Steinhardt’s ASD Nest support project was recently was awarded $50,000 by the FAR Fund to partner with NYU Poly and the Central Brooklyn STEM Initiative (CBSI) on a grant that brings robotics to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) at Millennium High School. The project, titled “Bringing STEM Specialization to ASD Nest High School Students: A Collaboration Between NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering and NYU Steinhardt’s ASD Nest Support Project,” is being led by co-principal investigators Kristie Patten Koenig, associate professor and department chair at NYU’s Department of Occupational Therapy, and Ben Esner, director of the Center for K-12 STEM Education.
The ASD Nest Program is a NYC Department of Education inclusion program for students with ASD in community schools, and educates more than 900 children with ASD alongside 3,000 of their typically developing peers. Dr. Patten Koenig is also the principal investigator of NYU Steinhardt’s ASD Nest Support Project, which is funded by the NYC Department of Education and provides children with ASD academic, behavioral, social, and sensory supports in order to be successful their neighborhood schools.
The Central Brooklyn STEM Initiative (CBSI) pairs teachers from public schools in Brooklyn with graduate student fellows from engineering, chemical, and biological science programs at NYU Poly to design hands-on classroom lessons. The program is funded by the National Science Foundation, Brooklyn Community Foundation, and other supporters, and reaches more than 2,000 students and 40 teachers.
