May 4, 2023 – CBC PEI: From a better way to play bocce in a wheelchair, to a tracker that adjusts solar panels, this year’s projects by students at UPEI’s Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering are making a difference, as the young engineers learn important lessons about their future profession.
“Other schools don’t have this, year after year working on projects, and certainly not with the community,” said assistant professor Libby Osgood.
“They’re learning about the things that they would learn in other schools, but here they’re implementing it, and practicing it.”
Natasha Benoit, a volunteer with Special Olympics, came to the engineering program looking for a better way for athletes in wheelchairs to play bocce.
“The athletes are of all different ranges of abilities, so some you have to help more than others,” she said. “So it became a challenge to hold a ramp, hold the ball, help them with their hands.”
Benoit said the new ramp will make a huge difference for some of the athletes.
Read the full CBC PEI story by Nancy Russell here