Dashing through the snow

Forget skiing, figure skating, and all the other "easy" winter sports. Angelo Suriano wants to mush.

Suriano has his sights set on the 2005 Iditarod dogsled race, but a spinal cord injury in 1986 left him without full use of the lower half of his body. So Suriano turned to nearby Clarkson University and its emerging rehabilitation engineering program to help him customize a dogsled that could take him and his 16-dog team through the Iditarod's grueling 1,100 miles of ice and snow.

Volunteering to take on the challenge, engineering graduate student Dustin Crandall got together with Leslie Russek, an assistant professor of physical therapy. Their project is an informal offshoot of the rehab engineering program-a collaboration between Clarkson's engineering and physical therapy departments, whose projects include an off-road wheelchair and an electronic walking stick for the blind.

While Suriano has some use of his legs and can stand for periods of time, he needs a seat for when he gets tired. And the sled's handlebar has to be reinforced so that it can support his weight when he stands. Suriano and Crandall worked together on the design. "I tell him what I need, and he gives me ideas," says Suriano.

"It's not a real hard problem," says Crandall of the sled's modifications, "but it's time-consuming." Crandall spends about 10 hours a week working on the project, but modestly shrugs off any praise for his volunteer efforts, "It was just an opportunity to do a practical problem and help somebody."

Russek-who also holds a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering-says that Crandall's attitude reflects that of many students working on the rehab engineering projects. "They know that there's a real person out there counting on them to do the best that they can."

This winter Suriano plans to compete in two qualifying races-a 60-mile race in Sandwich Notch, N.H., and the 250-- mile CanAm250 in Fort Kent, Maine. To qualify for the Iditarod, Suriano will have to complete the Sandwich Notch race and finish in the top 70 percent of the CanAm250. "I have a lot of work to do between now and then," says Suriano reflecting on the Iditarod, "But if I don't make it in 2005, then 2007."

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Feb 2003
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