Caroline M. Solomon

Caroline M. Solomon is an American academic whose teaching focuses on bringing deaf and hard-of-hearing students into the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Having experienced first-hand the problems for deaf students in classrooms without sign language interpreters, Solomon, who teaches biology at Gallaudet University, has designed databases to help students and teachers network with organizations and interpreters familiar with educational bridges for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. She is a co-creator of a database that formalizes the lexicon of signs used for scientific and technological terms in American Sign Language. Her innovations to teaching techniques were recognized with the Ramón Margalef Award for Excellence in Education of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography in 2017.

Early life

Caroline Solomon grew up in Delaware and contracted spinal meningitis as an infant, which resulted in her being deaf in a hearing family. As a teenager, she participated in the Deaflympics as a swimmer and became interested in the environment because she was unable to swim in a heavily polluted creek near their home. Upon graduation from high school, she enrolled at Harvard University, studying both environmental science and public policy. When she entered Harvard, there were no sign language interpreters on the staff, but the university hired one midway through Solomon's first semester. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1996. Furthering her education, Solomon went on to earn a master's degree in biological oceanography from the University of Washington. Solomon earned her a PhD in biological oceanography from the University of Maryland in 2006.

Career

After completion of her master's, Solomon, who wanted to inspire other deaf and hard-of-hearing students, joined the faculty of Gallaudet University in 2000. She was promoted to full professor in 2011. Her research focuses on the ecological effects that occur when algae, bacteria, and viruses interact with nitrogen byproducts from agricultural production and other human activity. Studying waterways such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Anacostia River, she analyzes the occurrence of algal blooms and pollutants to determine prevention measures which can be implemented in conservation efforts.