Cary Supalo is not a typical chemist.

Like other chemists, he routinely performs experiments in the laboratory -- but Supalo's resulting data is observed and gathered in a more unusual way than others doing similar tasks.

Supalo, who has been blind since age 7, is a doctoral candidate determined not to let this obstacle prevent him from exploring the vast field of chemistry.

"Most blind and visually impaired people close the door to themselves," he said. "Finding available resources has been the greatest challenge, so making tools available is the first step."

The challenge of developing instruments for visually impaired chemists has become the focus of Supalo's work.

Approved through a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, he and several chemistry experts are working to adapt tools to make research easier for the visually impaired.

Tom Mallouk, a Penn State chemistry and physics professor, has helped Supalo adapt several instruments, including a balance, thermometer and pH measure, and link them to a computer, which can transmit the measurements to the user by means of speech.

Mallouk said science would be a more desirable field for disabled students if tools like these were readily available and if students did not have to depend on assistance from other students or lab aides. "If you put an experiment in someone's hand, they learn it a lot better," Mallouk said. In the past, Supalo has been forced to enlist the help of assistants to conduct his research.

One student, Christeallia Amorosi (senior-chemistry) has assisted Supalo for more than a year, but she said he hardly needs her help.

"He's right there with me," she said. "He does the work and performs the experiment. I'm only an aide."

Andrew Greenberg, another specialist involved in Supalo's project, will help assess whether assistants like Amorosi will continue to be needed or will be replaced by a newfound independence of visually impaired chemists.

Greenberg, who is teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will test a control group of students who are not using these tools and will later compare the results to students who will begin using the tools in 2006.

The Indiana School for the Blind in Indianapolis will be one of the first schools to pilot Supalo's instruments and curriculum techniques.

Indiana School for the Blind chemistry teacher Alan Roth said he's looking forward to the implementation of these tools in his high school classroom, as their results can be far-reaching.

"The overall goal here goes further than what I'm doing," Roth said. "It is to help students be independent and become successful in chemistry."