Contact: Meredith Dickenson or Ellen Sterner
SMU News & Media Relations
(214) 768-7654

May 5, 2003

Each year, for the past seven years, the final examination for SMU mechanical engineering students has been to design devices for the disabled as their senior design projects. Students begin with customer need, interviewing the disabled for a design idea that could be practical to their lives. Eventually, the design process produces a working prototype to be used by the disabled in the real world. Students will present and demonstrate their designs at a media briefing. See photos and more information below.

Click on the photos below to view or download high-resolution .jpg versions.

Mechanical enginering students at SMU demonstrate the Undercover Canopy Mechanical enginering students at SMU demonstrate the Undercover Canopy

Photo 1: RAIN OR SHINE: Engineering Students Create Devices to Help Disabled

Left to right: SMU engineering students Megan Hamilton, Dena Wright and Alberto Perez display their senior design project, the UnderCover Canopy, an automatic umbrella or rain cover that attaches to a powered wheelchair and operates with the flip of a switch. The device provides shelter from rain and sun. For their senior design project, these students created devices for the disabled. The class teaches students the design process and also how engineers benefit humanity with their inventions.

 

Photo 2: REDESIGNING LIVES: Engineering Students Create Devices to Help Disabled

Left to right: SMU engineering students Abby Paulson, David Farmer, Megan Hamilton, Dena Wright, Alberto Perez and Brian Kearns with their senior design project, the UnderCover Canopy, an automatic umbrella or rain cover that attaches to a powered wheelchair and operates with the flip of a switch. The device provides shelter from rain and sun. For their senior design project, these students created devices for the disabled. The class teaches students the design process and also how engineers benefit humanity with their inventions.

 
Mechanical enginering students at SMU demonstrate the Undercover Canopy  

Photo 3: GIMME SHELTER: Engineering Students Create Devices to Help Disabled

Left to right: SMU engineering student Dena Wright demonstrates her senior design project, the UnderCover Canopy, an automatic umbrella or rain cover that attaches to a powered wheelchair and operates with the flip of a switch. The device provides shelter from rain and sun. For their senior design project, Wright and a group of engineering students created devices for the disabled. The class teaches students the design process and also how engineers benefit humanity with their inventions.

 

 

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