FAQs

Who is eligible to apply?

You are eligible to apply if you are a junior or senior in high school or are enrolled in and undergraduate college or university. We strongly encourage those who are Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing to apply.

What kind of responsibilities will I have?

You are responsible for attending the speaker events, meetings with your peers, and meetings with your mentor. Your primary responsibility is to learn about the new developments related to sign language technology development and network with other people who have common interests. This is not intended to be a burden on you, rather, we want our ambassadors to have fun and become motivated to join the field!

What opportunities will I have as a CREST Ambassador?

You will join a small cohort of other selected students, and will participate in some team building activities with them. You will be matched with a mentor who can talk to you about life and career choices. You will attend small student sessions with some of our Keynote presenters, where you can chat with them about their work and learn about their experiences. Also, as part of your acceptance you will receive a swag bag of CREST Fest goodies!

How long Will I be an ambassador for? Is it only six weeks?

Although this experience only lasts for six weeks, you will be able to put this on your resume to describe the things you have learned, experienced, and gained from attending. You will always be  a CREST ambassador!

Who is this program a good fit for?

This is a great experience for anyone who is interested in learning more about technology as related to sign language. For instance, are you curious about sign language animation, or sign language translation using computer vision? Or, are you interested in learning how sign language can be used in virtual reality (VR)? If these topics sound interesting to you, you may be a good fit! The CREST Ambassador program can help you learn more about some of the technology that you might have seen in the news such as signing avatars, motion capture technology, and sign translation gloves. 

How will we communicate?

The primary languages of CREST Fest are American Sign Language (ASL) and English. However, if you use a different language please let us know so we can do our best to accommodate you in any way possible including the use of interpreters and captioning services. We will also utilize Discord to allow you to communicate with your peers, mentor, and others who are attending CREST Fest.