Thanks to innovative work by Mercer University faculty and students, visually-impaired high school graduates in Middle Georgia and South Korea have received Touch3D Yearbooks.
Since 2018, Dr. Sinjae Hyun and Dr. Scott Schultz with the School of Engineering and a team of their students have created custom yearbooks featuring 3D-printed face models for the Georgia Academy for the Blind in Macon. They put together seven yearbooks for members of the Class of 2018, 11 for the Class of 2019 and are making 17 for the Class of 2020.
They are continually improving their product and process and have evolved from a wooden display board to a display case and from 3D printing all of the face models to casting them using silicone molds.
During the Mercer On Mission trip to South Korea in summer 2019, Mercer faculty and students taught students at the Drim School how to make the 3D models. The Mercer team created five 3D family portraits for a rehabilitation center in South Korea in fall 2019 and delivered them in December 2019. The Drim School students created 3D yearbooks for seven graduates at a school for the blind in January 2020.
The Mercer On Mission team plans to return to South Korea in the future to teach 3D scanning, modeling and printing technologies to teachers at schools for the blind.
Mercer Made is a series in which we feature notable people, businesses, products and inventions connected to Mercer University.
