Freedom of expression through engineering

Nylon straps, molded A new crown made of polycarbonate strip and foam padding equipped with a stylus for a local artist - A team of Johns Hopkins engineering students infused a local artist's 'crown' with high-tech features aimed at enhancing its ergonomics and functionality as part of the university's Volunteers for Medical Engineering group It may look like a simple contraption of nylon straps, molded polycarbonate strips, and foam padding, but to a local artist, it represents so much more: a voice, the ability to communicate thoughts and ideas, and freedom of expression. "Art gives me a way to express myself without anybody interpreting for me," says Dan Keplinger , whose severe cerebral palsy prevents him from both speaking intelligibly and from using his hands to create the art that is his living and lifeblood. Instead, his stylus and paintbrushes are affixed to a carbon-fiber rod mounted on a "crown" strapped to his head and under his chin, allowing him to use head movements to type messages on a computer and to create bold impressionist figurative works of art that have been exhibited in shows from New York and Washington, D.C. to Chicago and San Francisco. Students gather around a man seated at his computer while he tries out a newly fitted crown with a stylus attached - Though Keplinger has used a similar device to paint, draw, and communicate since he discovered his prodigious talent in an art room at Parkville High School in the 1990s, the current version-which includes high-tech features aimed at enhancing its ergonomics and functionality-was created by a team of Johns Hopkins engineering students who are part of the university's Volunteers for Medical Engineering group.