Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 1 Spring 2019 | Page 24

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Beyond senior design
Student organization embraces QL+
philosophy to enhance quality of life
In the 2017-2018 academic
year, a new sponsor for
mechanical engineering
senior design teams arrived at
Virginia Tech in the form of
QL+, a non-profit dedicated
to helping veterans and first
responders. Teams tackled
problems brought forth
by challengers and made a
difference in their lives.
Inspired by the initial
challenges, Zackory Biggers,
a junior in mechanical engi-
neering from Lovettsville,
Virginia answered a call to
help form a new student
organization, Quality of
Life Plus Student Chapter at
Virginia Tech, to help people
in the New River Valley.
“Last year’s senior design
team really got the student
organization started,” Biggers
said. “This is the first year
we’ve been in action, with an
executive board and working
on projects.”
ROSAIRE
BUSHEY
MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING
Biggers is the president
of the club which has about
thirty members representing
a number of engineering and
non-engineering disciplines.
The projects the group takes
on are not senior design
projects. In fact, there is no
academic credit at all associat-
ed with the club, and students
are doing work on their own
time, using money they raise.
“We’ve been working with
a rehabilitation center called
Neuro-Restorative who have
put us in touch with several
of our challengers,” Biggers
said.
Of the three projects the
team is taking on this semes-
ter, one involves a 12-year old
who was born with only part
of his hand, with no fingers.
The team meets with Ben and
his parents, Joel and Trina
to come up with options for
what they can do that will
help Ben.
“We are looking at a
prosthetic attachment that
will help him hold a cup
and potentially assist him in
playing the piano,” Biggers
said. “It’s a small thing, but
something most people don’t
think about – it makes it
easier when eating a meal or
carrying a drink through the
house to have one hand free
while carrying your cup, for
instance.”
Talking to their challengers
has given Biggers a new