Led by Assistant Professor Mei Lin (Ete) Chan, the Bioengineering, Education, Application and Research (BEAR) team are working together to create a system for easily adapting toys for use by children who have disabilities. 

“To address the challenge, Chan and her students in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences worked on developing something called an adaptive switch, which is essentially a large button that can be adapted to the toy to make it easier for children to navigate.

“Imagine a kid sitting in a wheelchair,” said Chan. “They’d be able to easily click on this bigger switch and control the toy by themselves. It would give them some independence. When we started thinking about it like that it became a turning point.”

With that mission, Chan was able to simultaneously offer students a chance to work on a real-world application and help out with [a local] toy drive.” 

While VIP students are leading the effort, the project has drawn participation from student groups across campus including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and Alpha Eta Mu Beta (AEMB).

Read more: “Biomedical Engineering Project Provides HOliday Cheer by Adapting Toys,” Stoney Brook University News,  January 10, 2023