Three engineering undergrads at Rice University gave a teenager with a rare genetic disease something he’d always wished for: the ability to turn off the light in his room.
It may not seem like much, but for 17-year-old Dee Faught, it represents a new kind of independence.
Dee can’t operate a light switch because he can’t reach far enough from his wheelchair. He has a disorder called , also known as brittle bone disease. In addition to breaking easily, Dee’s bones are tiny. His legs and arms are all twisted up.
The three Rice students heard about Dee in an unusual freshman engineering class. Instead of learning engineering principles from a book, students form teams to come up with engineering solutions for real-world problems.