The following paid research opportunity was submitted by Miranda Brown, designer of the original Penny Forward logo.

Miranda’s Email

“I hope this email finds you well! Last time we spoke, I was a freshman working on the logo for Penny Forward, and I was very excited to see that you are still using a logo inspired by the design! I just graduated with my B.S. in industrial engineering last year, and I am currently working on my master’s in Human Factors at Virginia Tech. My research aims to improve cross-walk safety for blind pedestrians. Would you be willing to help us by distributing this survey through your network? ”

Survey Details

The Human IMPAC-T Lab within the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech is conducting a research study to survey individuals who are blind or have low vision about their device usage and traffic safety behaviors when engaging in street crossings. The survey should take roughly 20-30 minutes to complete. This research has been approved by the Human Research Protection Program (IRB 22-080).

Title of Study: Connected Electric Vehicles: Vehicle-pedestrian Communications to Enhance Vision-Impaired Pedestrian Safety (IRB: 22-080)
Principle Investigator: Rafael N.C. Patrick
Contact Information: Human IMPAC-T Lab ([email protected])
Compensation: $10 Amazon gift card will be provided via email upon successful completion of the entire survey.
Participation Requirements: To participate in the survey, individuals must be 18 years of age or older and have 20/200 visual acuity or lower vision in their better-seeing eye. This research will feed into future studies seeking to evaluate and provide user recommendations for vehicle-to-pedestrian alerting devices designed to cue pedestrians of hazardous traffic situations.
Research Purpose: To gather insight to help improve the safety of blind pedestrians. The data collected from this survey will be used to support current research on vehicle-to-pedestrian communication at Virginia Tech. Currently, we are working with cross-walk simulations and reaction time testing to determine the most effective solutions to increase blind pedestrian safety. This survey will help us determine what direction to continue our research through direct feedback from the community.

Link To Survey: https://virginiatech.questionpro.com/pedestriansurvey