For nearly 30 years, Biomedical Engineering Professor Ying Sun has been creating biomedical devices and instruments that make the lives of ill and disabled individuals a little easier. He’s developed models of the cardiovascular system to improve devices that replace the function of a failing heart, patented improvements to a commonly-used neuroscience diagnostic instrument that makes the device more versatile, and invented an acoustic device to rapidly screen patients for sleep apnea while they are still awake.
But Professor Sun is perhaps best known for creating customized electronic assistive devices aimed at helping people with disabilities control their environment. Through a collaboration with the Eleanor Slater Hospital in Cranston, Professor Sun and his students have met the specific needs of dozens of individuals by creating devices that help them operate computers, lighting, televisions, and other equipment.
“The market for assistive devices isn’t lucrative, and their cost isn’t usually picked up by insurance, so I’ve made it a priority to provide for the needs of the people in the community,” said Professor Sun, who serves on the Rhode Island Council on Assistive Technology. “Customized assistive devices can be relatively simple to engineer, so even freshmen students can contribute.”
Depending on the needs of particular patients, Sun and his students have created custom devices to help children communicate better, switches that can be operated with the mouth, and an automated page-turning device for reading books. They’ve even designed a helmet-mounted gripping device to help a Warwick resident with cerebral palsy design greeting cards.
A classical guitarist who also carves elaborate seals that are used like signatures in Taiwan and China, Sun is guided by a desire to help those in need. “My big idea is to use my research and teaching in biomedical engineering to benefit the community.”
