Students Take Top Prize for Device to Help Disabled Workers
ALBANY, N.Y. (April 22, 2025) — UAlbany students Binh Ho, Alex Pilkey and Shakib Ahmed took home the top prize in New York State Industries for the Disabled's annual Cultivating Resources for Employment with Assistive Technology (CREATE) competition, which provides a forum for college students across New York to help those living with disabilities succeed in the workplace.
The students, from the College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering (CNSE), took part in the competition through their senior capstone projects for Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), in which they created a device capable of scanning multiple pieces of mail and generating a spreadsheet of addresses at the push of a button. It's the third time in four years that UAlbany students finished in first place for CREATE, a reflection of the partnership that Professor of Practice Jonathan Muckell has cultivated with the Center for Disability Services' Mail Fulfillment Center in Colonie.
"Our electrical and computer engineering students work on a wide range of industry-sponsored projects as part of their senior capstone design experience," said Muckell. "However, the assistive technology competition holds a special place in our program. It’s where students connect their technical knowledge to a deeper human purpose. Seeing them succeed in this space, year after year, is one of the most rewarding parts of my role as a mentor."
In the case of Ho, Pilkey and Ahmed, the project also speaks to their shared interest in solving problems as well as a shared journey as transfer students from Hudson Valley Community College.
"I graduated earlier than expected from HVCC and I didn't want to have a gap semester. I was able to quickly transfer to UAlbany where I could continue my studies in electrical and computer engineering," explained Pilkey, who is from Niskayuna. "Going through the entire engineering process has certainly been an educational experience. It's a great feeeling knowing that what we're creating is going to directly help people."
For Ho and Ahmed, their journey to becoming students at UAlbany and eventually finding careers as engineers included learning a new language and culture as immigrants to the United States.
"I was born and raised in Vietnam; my family moved to the United States in 2015 when I was 16," said Ho, who is also completing a minor in mathematics. "I was the first one in my family to go to college and my parents were especially proud when they heard I was going into an engineering program."
Upon graduation, Ho plans on starting a career at GlobalFoundries as a process engineer. Ho is especially appreciative of the supportive environment within the ECE program, including Muckell and Professor of Practice Jeffrey Braunstein.
"Professor Braunstein was THE professor when it comes to teaching the foundational classes in electrical engineering," said Ho.
Ahmed's parents were equally supportive. Originally from Bangladesh, there was definitely an expectation that Ahmed would attend college and achieve as high of an academic degree as possible. With an associate degree from HVCC and a bachelor's forthcoming in May, Ahmed plans to attend graduate school after he completes a deployment for the New York National Guard. The capstone project allowed him to gain the practical knowledge of working with a client to meet their specific needs through the engineering process.
"It's definitely been an interesting learning experience," said Ahmed. "Especially improving the system as we received feedback during test runs at our stakeholder's site and finishing up the project with a deployable working system."
"This particular aspect of the ECE Capstone program is so important — not only to the individuals working at the Mail Distribution Center, but also our students," said CNSE Dean Michele J. Grimm. "They learn to work with the individuals who will be using the system to really understand what their needs are, and then they return to have discussions during the prototyping process to make sure that their design is on target. This is such an important aspect of design — and this group of students exemplifies how science and engineering can be applied to serve society, even in one small corner at a time. We are very proud of the students and the collaboration that Jon Muckell has developed."
Alex Demitraszek, assistant director of Operations at the Mail Fulfillment Center is also thankful to have a strong partnership with Muckell and the electrical and computer engineering program at UAlbany.
"Our staff look forward to this program every year and are appreciative of the attention that UAlbany’s students give to developing devices that improve the lives of individuals with disabilities," said Demitraszek. "This year’s project has increased accuracy and productivity within our shipping department. More importantly, this invention improves our ability to further our mission of creating competitive employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities."