UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 20, Page 7
February 15, 1996
Center scientist, student form special bond

     Kenneth E. Barner, scientist at the Center for Applied Science
and Engineering in Rehabilitation, works each day from a wheelchair,
the result of a spinal cord injury received when he was a college
student.
     As the director of the Science, Engineering and Math Mentoring
Program-a National Science Foundation-funded project to engage,
recruit and retain students with disabilities in these fields-he is
uniquely qualified to know the challenges students with disabilities
face when entering these intellectually challenging careers.
     As a student, Barner transferred to UD in 1987 and earned both
his master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering. He worked
as a visiting lecturer in electrical engineering before joining the
research staff at the center and also holds the title of assistant
research professor.
     In addition to directing the project, Barner participates in its
mentoring phase on a more personal level.
     He mentors Jay Little, a junior at Wilmington High School, who is
interested in a career in medicine or astronomy. Little also works at
the center developing Web pages for use on the Internet.
     "Jay came to us last summer," Barner said. "He has a physical
disability that made it hard for him to find a job. Most of the jobs
that high school students can find call for manual labor." At the
Center, Barner was able to help Little find a job that uses his strong
academic background.
     Over the summer, Little worked to develop the center's World Wide
Web pages. He is now creating similar pages for the mentoring program.
     Via e-mail, Little, who has mild paralysis and muscle rigidity as
the result of brain trauma, said the project has "been a wonderful and
positive experience for me.
     "I've learned a lot since I was first hired into the project in
June. I've spent time learning how to work with UNIX and the HTML
programming language and progressed to start creating and updating the
WWW pages.
     "Working with Dr. Barner and the rest of the staff is quite
enjoyable and I feel very lucky to be called part of the staff. In
fact, I feel pretty flattered to be treated as an equal by professors
because I am 16."
     Little was struck and critically injured by a car in 1987. He was
rushed to the hospital with a severe head injury and in a coma, and
doctors were doubtful that he would survive or ever live beyond a
vegetable state.
     Little proved them wrong. Last year, his GPA was 4.33 and he is a
distinguished honors student.
     "It wasn't easy coming back to life...I had to learn how to do
everything all over again, how to walk, eat, read, write and do
mathematics, and it was painful," Little said. "But, I figure it was
worth it. Even though a lot of people have made fun of me and
discriminated against me because of my disabilities, I don't have any
regrets.
     "To other people with disabilities I say, hang in there and don't
give up! Even though part of your body might not work, you mind is
still the master and is powerful. You can prove it."
                                                          -Beth Thomas