Olde Hornet
Well-Known Member
Alabama State University has long been acknowledged to have one of America's finest prosthetic and orthotics (P.& O.) programs among institutions of higher education (located in its College of Health Sciences), and a recently won first-place prize in a national competition by four of its master's degree students reinforces this opinion.
The four students - Avery Strickland; Dennis Counihan; Rachel Fontenot & Ryan Chidester - all won first-place in the American Academy of Prosthetic & Orthotics' National Convention in Chicago for their research project (presented in a poster format) that enables people to more easily use an advanced and sought after "mechanical hand" through the use of virtual reality software that they wrote.
The "mechanical hand" in question has been in use, but has been extremely difficult to teach people to both use and master - that is until these Hornets looked at the issue and devised a better way to teach those in need of its use explained Dr. Charlene Portee, dean of ASU's College of Health Sciences.
"Winning a top prize is a wonderful accolade to obtain, but what these ASU students won it for is nothing less than amazing," Portee said.
