{"id":55553,"date":"2023-12-10T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T15:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=55553"},"modified":"2023-12-16T08:14:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T13:14:39","slug":"there-is-no-barrier-and-no-limit-if-you-have-that-passion-to-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/12\/there-is-no-barrier-and-no-limit-if-you-have-that-passion-to-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There is no barrier and no limit if you have that passion to learn\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dr.

Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu works with December graduate Fatimah Musa in the Robotics Lab. Photo by Angela Foster.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu said Fatimah Musa could have picked an easier major, but taking the easy route isn\u2019t in her nature.<\/p>\n

Musa, who will receive a bachelor\u2019s degree in mechatronics during University of Tennessee at Chattanooga undergraduate commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 16, was born with cone-rod dystrophy\u2014a type of inherited retinal degeneration affecting the retina\u2019s photoreceptor cells. The condition is characterized by progressive loss of function and death of the eyes\u2019 cone and rod photoreceptor cells, leading to vision loss.<\/p>\n

Musa can\u2019t see in the dark; walking around alone at night is a \u201cno\u201d for her. To be able to read on a computer screen or tablet, she needs magnifying devices.<\/p>\n

Because she was born with limited vision, \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m missing,\u201d said Musa, a native of Tunnel Hill, Georgia, and 2019 graduate of Ringgold High School. \u201cI generalize myself as blind because blind does include the visually impaired. It\u2019s like an umbrella term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaplanoglu is interim head of the Department of Engineering Management and Technology, director of the Biomechatronic and Assistive Technology Lab and an associate professor of mechatronics. Much of his work centers on medically-assistive research for people with a physical disability.<\/p>\n

He has worked with students who had lost a limb or had walking disabilities, he said, and, \u201cWe can make prosthetics or some external assistive devices to help those students.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this was the first time Kaplanoglu worked with a student who had Musa\u2019s type of impairment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned how to help a person with this kind of disability during our lab sessions. I needed to help her be ready for real life because she will be in the work industry,\u201d said Kaplanoglu, who\u2014like Musa\u2014first came to UTC in fall 2019. \u201cI respect her patience in doing the hard things. She could have picked another major very easily, an easier one for her, but she pushed herself to do more learning.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very kind and open because I asked her many times to make sure she could read or understand. She\u2019s not hiding anything and she\u2019s not scared. She has really accepted her situation, and that helped me a lot in helping her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling when she arrived on campus, Musa didn\u2019t have the tablet she has now. She said she would have to take screenshots or pictures and basically relearn classes on her own.<\/p>\n

Musa needed special magnifying devices to see and read better and, \u201cWe made some bigger-size experimental manuals and technical descriptions for her,\u201d Kaplanoglu said.<\/p>\n

He also said some of the computers in the lab didn\u2019t have accessible programs, so they had some designated computers for her to use.<\/p>\n

Just as early challenges were being eliminated came Musa\u2019s second semester on campus and the arrival of the pandemic. COVID-19 presented unique challenges for everyone, particularly for someone with a visual impairment.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has their stories about that,\u201d Musa recalled, \u201cand I remember being ahead in a couple of the courses. Then the shutdown happened and the shift to online courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe struggle with that for me was I couldn\u2019t see the Zoom course screen shares. That turned out to be a little technical issue for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Erica Hausler, associate director of the Disability Resource Center at UTC, said she has worked with only a handful of students with vision issues at the level Musa experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the testing center when she was starting here, so I got to know her more on a personal level in the sense that she was in my office a lot doing tests. I remember her saying, \u2018Hey, I can\u2019t see this. What can we do?\u2019 and I\u2019d say, \u2018Let\u2019s try this,\u2019\u201d Hausler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of it was trial-and-error because we were both learning at the same time. Once we got a rhythm, it just became, \u2018How are things going? Are you having any concerns?\u2019 and then pointing her in the right direction on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a wonderful self-advocate. She comes to us and says, \u2018Hey, here\u2019s a problem I haven\u2019t found a way to solve yet. Let\u2019s put our brains together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

They still converse on a regular basis. Hausler said Musa recently stopped by the Disability Resource Center for fax assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of our printers on campus are accessible for the visually impaired, so we assisted in getting some of those done so that she could move forward to something after UTC,\u201d Hausler said.<\/p>\n

In summing up her UTC career, Musa praised the resources provided by Hausler and the Disability Resource Center, saying, \u201cThey\u2019ve always been on top of everything for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She extolled the virtues of the College of Engineering and Computer Science\u2019s Student Success Center for its work in connecting her to its women\u2019s mentoring program\u2014which in turn led to her landing an internship with QCells, a solar panel manufacturer with a production facility in Dalton, Georgia.<\/p>\n

And she raved about how engineering faculty worked together to help her navigate a difficult degree program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the fact that a lot of my classes had repeating professors helped me out,\u201d Musa said, \u201cbut something I overcame was the difficulty and the rigor of these courses. The first time I took these mechatronics courses, I realized everything is so related to each other because it\u2019s everything all at once about every topic. So I realized that I would go to one professor and then the other professor would be talking about the same topics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the way I connected them and the way I can utilize those topics about electronics or control systems or coding \u2026 I can jump from each of these fields of study and understand them in a broad sense, but also take them and use them in a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did her instructors learn from working with Musa?<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned that there is no barrier and no limit if you have that passion to learn,\u201d Kaplanoglu said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to eliminate barriers from her future. If she finds the right environment to work in, she\u2019s going to be a successful engineer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crossing the McKenzie Arena stage closes one chapter and starts a new one for Musa, and she\u2019s ready for what\u2019s ahead. Perhaps it\u2019s in engineering, she said, or maybe teaching.<\/p>\n

She said she won\u2019t let her visual impairment hold her back\u2014as she\u2019s never taken the easy route.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever comes up in the future, I think I can handle it,\u201d Musa said. \u201cIf somebody rejects me or if somebody doesn\u2019t think I\u2019m cut out for this field, I can easily prove them wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn More<\/h4>\n

Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

Overcoming adversity: Mechatronics student Fatimah Musa won\u2019t let visual impairment hold her back<\/a><\/p>\n

Mechatronics<\/a><\/p>\n

Disability Resource Center<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Fatimah

Fatimah Musa and Dr. Erkan Kaplanoglu<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fatimah Musa, who will receive a bachelor\u2019s degree in mechatronics during University of Tennessee at Chattanooga undergraduate commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 16, was born with cone-rod dystrophy\u2014a type of inherited retinal degeneration affecting the retina\u2019s photoreceptor cells. The condition is characterized by progressive loss of function and death of the eyes\u2019 cone and rod photoreceptor cells, leading to vision loss.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1493,"featured_media":55556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12743,70,123864,59,12659,7712,8244,781,661],"tags":[122728,7223,122687,123699,99083,122678,94156,122679],"class_list":{"0":"post-55553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-advancement-and-alumni","9":"category-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","10":"category-engineering-management-technology","11":"category-events-entertainment","12":"category-faculty-and-staff","13":"category-honors-and-awards","14":"category-scholarship","15":"category-students","16":"tag-biomechatronic-and-assistive-technology-lab","17":"tag-commencement","18":"tag-commencement-2023","19":"tag-erica-hausler","20":"tag-erkan-kaplanoglu","21":"tag-fatimah-musa","22":"tag-mechatronics","23":"tag-qcells","24":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\n\u2018There is no barrier and no limit if you have that passion to learn\u2019 | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fatimah Musa, who will receive a bachelor\u2019s degree in mechatronics during University of Tennessee at Chattanooga undergraduate commencement ceremonies on Saturday, Dec. 16, was born with cone-rod dystrophy\u2014a type of inherited retinal degeneration affecting the retina\u2019s photoreceptor cells. 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