Michael Boor says he needed a fierce work ethic for his sunrise chores on his family's dairy farm in Horseheads, New York. But, he says, there was an upside: Perseverance and strong will enabled him to accomplish something much more impressive.

Last summer, Boor, who is in his second year at Cornell University's College of Engineering, completed an internship at Lockheed Martin, where he helped design an autonomous boat for the Navy that can navigate rocks and other hazards using little more than GPS and radar.

Boor secured his internship though a pioneering AAAS program, ENTRY POINT!, which connects talented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students who have disabilities with employers from around the country. Current partners include Lockheed Martin, IBM, Merck, NASA, NAVAIR, Google, Pfizer, Procter and Gamble, Shell Oil, and Infosys.

The program offers accepted students with disabilities internships at top research companies or government research agencies across the country. The placements match the student's desire for engaging work with the employer's need for an expanded pool of technical talent.

While designing vehicles at a top defense company takes academic discipline and persistence, Boor also overcame his dyslexia, which poses a challenge when he reads or writes. Boor said that his dyslexia affected him throughout his K-12 education, but by the time he got to college, he had learned to take more time compared to his colleagues to comprehend written material.

"Having a disability means that you just need to work a little harder to level the playing field," said Boor. "But overcoming my disability has enabled me to develop a work ethic that I can apply to other parts of my life."

Boor spoke alongside six other scientists with disabilities during a luncheon at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting, which brought parents, teachers, and students to the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

Jinny Stern, director of the AAAS Project on Science, Technology and Disability, said that the internships are helpful because the employers are able to meet the students' needs for assistive technology and other accommodations. In addition, mentors and students involved in the program often serve as ambassadors to the wider community.

Currently in its 14th year, ENTRY POINT! has placed over 550 students in internships around the country, most or almost all of whom have gone on to careers in science and engineering.

"U.S. companies are always on the lookout for the most talented people to work in their laboratories and offices," said Stern. "Programs like ENTRY POINT! help companies identify motivated young scientists, matching them with employers that value and respect their workforce."

The panel was welcomed to Chicago by Karen Tamley, commissioner of Mayor Richard Daley's Office for People with Disabilities, which seeks to meet the diverse needs of the more than 600,000 people with disabilities who live or work in the Chicago area.

"We are thrilled to be involved in a project like this that breaks down barriers for people with disabilities," said Tamley, adding that her office has a program matching skilled residents of the Chicago area with high-tech jobs.

Chad Cheetham, a neurobiology graduate student at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, echoed Boor. "Success only comes before work in the dictionary," he said.

"Failure is not the act of falling down, but rather in not getting back up," said Cheetham, who has visual impairments. After he gets his Ph.D., Cheetham wants to perform research to find novel solutions for central nervous system disorders.

Chris Wyble, who is pursing an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at Mercer College in Macon, Georgia, said people with disabilities are written off by those who think they will not be able to achieve great things.

An ardent student of history, Wyble said many politicians underestimated Abraham Lincoln because he didn't have the connections perceived as necessary to reach the nation's highest office. But, Wyble continued, Lincoln did have great intelligence and a strong sense of right and wrong.

"It's never good to be written off," said Wyble. Wyble has Asperger's syndrome which can affect social and emotional interaction with peers. "But in Lincoln's case, it worked out. Maybe someday people will write hundreds of books about us."