Chris Hallman/University Photography

Cornell senior Ethan Rand, pictured demonstrating a wheelchair on campus, has designed an ergonomic apparatus for people in wheelchairs and is in the final stages of having a prototype in hand.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- When College of Human Ecology senior Ethan Rand came from his "hometown" of Manhattan to Cornell, he was looking for a way to combine science and design. Four years later, he has designed an ergonomic apparatus for people in wheelchairs, is the author of a provisional patent, is in the final stages of having a prototype in hand and is looking forward to finding a way to combine ergonomic design with medical studies.

No doubt, he will find a way.

Four years ago, when Rand was on a tour of Cornell and describing his interdisciplinary goal to his campus tour guide, she suggested he look into the Design and Environmental Analysis (DEA) program. It was already 4:50 p.m. when they ran into a "really great guy" with whom Rand spoke for the next two hours. The "guy" turned out to be the director of admissions for human ecology, Darryl Scott, who proceeded to give Rand and his father a tour of the facilities for the program.

"This is exactly what I wanted to do," Rand recalls thinking. "I was always into design and science, and I wasn't sure if I had to give up one to do the other." Rand was thrilled to find a department that fosters the "perfect combination of the two."

The rest is history. This weekend Rand leaves Cornell with an impressive academic record and some real experience in medical device design.

Rand attributes working with physical therapists at a rehabilitation clinic during the summers as a key experience that reinforced his belief that his two areas of interest could complement each other.

"After my freshman year, I was volunteering at Mount Sinai Hospital, mostly with the rehabilitation of spinal cord injury patients. I started noticing that a lot of people were having pain in their arms," says Rand.

During his sophomore year, his observations became subjective when a slip on the ice left him with a broken ankle, and he was in a wheelchair for a month. During this time he developed some pains in his arms and wrists. He realized that if he was experiencing pain after such a short time, permanent wheelchair users must be in severe pain.

"I did a little research and found that 50 percent of manual-wheelchair users complain of pain in the wrists and the arms. So I started to think of ways that we could prevent injuries and rehabilitate the users so that people in wheelchairs could maintain their independence," Rand explains. "I came up with a design and it sat for a while, as I was constantly tweaking and changing it."

Last year he produced a working prototype that keeps the upper body in a neutral position, minimizing strain to the wrists, arms and shoulders, and can be retrofitted to any wheelchair. To see his project to completion, Rand researched the patenting process and wrote his own provisional patent.

This busy entrepreneurial designer plans to apply to medical school next fall. In the meantime he hopes to see his wheelchair device through completion and perhaps get a job in the field of medical device design before pursuing his medical degree.

Rand's hobbies have one thing in common -- they all start with "D": Drawing, design and drums. Along with his Cornellian brother, Gabriel Rand '04, he was a key member of the band AirSponge, a folk-rock group that played gigs at Moosewood Restaurant, ABC Cafe and The Nines.

While at Cornell, Rand also worked on a research project on rural poverty under the supervision of Gary Evans, Cornell DEA professor, interviewing upstate New York families. "Working on this project really exposed me to poverty, and, like Professor Evans, I think it is important to be exposed to poverty in order to raise an awareness among Cornell students," says Rand.

Throughout his four years at Cornell, Rand credits his academic adviser, Alan Hedge, the DEA professor who shares Rand's passion for ergonomic design, for providing support.

Rand is president of the Cornell Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Student Chapter and the recipient of several awards, including the Outstanding Senior Award in the College of Human Ecology and the New York State Governor's Scholarship. He was nominated for the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Cornell Student Activities Office and was recognized in an article in Human Ecology News , "Human Ecology Pre-med Students Find Majors in Unexpected Places."

Sarah Davidson is a writer intern at the Cornell News Service.