140 year of Shriners

140 year of Shriners

Monday, December 21, 2009

Engineer-Physician Shriners Team help Change the World

DUBLIN – It is up to design engineers to change the world, says Steve Robbins, CEO of Level 5 Communications and executive editor of Desktop Engineering Magazine.

So the magazine launched its Change the World Challenge, soliciting innovative ideas from design engineers across the world to change the world for the better.

Robbins said the contest recognizes the design engineers behind the products, who often get little recognition.

What Robbins found interesting about the designs submitted by mechanical CAD companies was how people had solved problems because they had tools today that allowed them to do 3-D modeling and 3-D design more easily.

For instance, 3-D scanning technology is already helping children who have cleft lip and palate, and could help millions more.

An engineer-physician team at Shriners Hospital for Children in Springfield, Mass., won first place in the rapid technology category for a less invasive, breakthrough procedure in treating cleft and lip palate.

Through 3-D scanning, the child's palate can be scanned and an exact model created. A series of corrective appliances can then be created using a rapid-prototyping machine to help reduce cleft width before surgery without inhibiting upper-jaw growth.

The comparative ease of the procedure means children suffering from cleft lip or palate in Third World countries may be more likely to receive treatment.

For story by By GRETYL MACALASTER, Union Leader Correspondent go to www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Designers%2C+change+the+world&articleId=ff204ca6-e9d5-4f27-a215-2de723de1767

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