For better or worse, engineers often are perceived as emotionally detached from their work. The chance to break that stereotype appealed to 10 engineering students at University of Illinois at Chicago recently, and their efforts yielded the creation of three devices inspired by parents of children with disabilities.
The students, divided into three teams, created a cafeteria tray for people with partial arm function; a device that eases the opening of car doors; and a floating air tank that allows a little girl with a heart defect to swim more freely.
Those products were among nearly 70 presented last week at UIC’s Engineering Expo 2005, an annual exhibit of senior engineering class projects that included mostly serious endeavors.
Quirkier devices also were displayed, including a throw-n-go garbage can that uses a sensor to open the flap on a wastebasket; a silent alarm clock that vibrates a person awake; and the musicator, another sensor device that plays tunes to reward physical therapy patients as they grind through their regimen.
One of the more compelling products was the oxygen flotation unit, developed by seniors John Pucek of Westmont, Ray Welby of Palos Hills and Antoine Khoury of Rolling Meadows. The idea was among 37 requests from an informal survey of parents at Easter Seals DuPage that was inspired by Kathy McGuire, a UIC engineering alum who helped create the university’s first Engineering Expo 16 years ago.
Her son is a client at Easter Seals DuPage, which has facilities in Villa Park and Naperville.
Starting in January, the engineering students designed the floatation device for Jenny Youngwith, who swims for fun and as therapy for a heart anomaly that requires continuous supplemental oxygen. She has done so with the help of two attendants, one who swims with Jenny and the other who trails a long oxygen hose from the pool deck. It’s a cumbersome activity.
But the device designed by the students, which Jenny tested this month at a Northern Illinois University pool, allows her to pull an oxygen tank that glides just a few feet behind her on the water’s surface.
She is a little nervous about using it but in a letter to the three students, Jenny’s mother, Janice A. Youngwith, wrote, “We can’t begin to thank you for the impact that your device will make for Jenny while swimming this summer and at NIU next semester. Your device will mean greater independence, and I know she will love it.”
The three students said the emotional and personal connection they made with Jenny inspired them more than the typical class assignment, and made this project more rewarding.
“I never thought when I got involved in this major that I would end up developing something that would help out a little girl with a disability,” Khoury said. “It’s a tremendous personal feeling.”
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tgregory@tribune.com
