Lone Star College (LSC) Honors College students achieved extraordinary success with their indoor/outdoor wheelchair design at the Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC) Design Challenge, outperforming teams from major universities.
“What's remarkable about this achievement is how our students leveraged their creativity and technical skills to solve a real-world problem,” said Katharine Caruso, Ph.D., LSC associate vice chancellor, Honors and International Education. “This success illustrates what we see consistently - our first and second-year students delivering results that rival those of juniors and seniors. It happens when talented students like these, inspired by excellent faculty mentors, are willing to tackle ambitious projects that bridge classroom learning with practical innovation.”
The LSC Honors College team, known as Hyperion, developed an all-terrain wheelchair to help disabled people navigate and enjoy outdoor spaces without buying a separate outdoor wheelchair. The design uses shape memory alloy (SMA) tires with a built-in indoor/outdoor tire-swapping mechanism, allowing users to hike previously inaccessible trails smoothly and independently.
Hyperion competed against 22 teams from 11 higher education institutions, including the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and Rice University. They earned multiple awards:
- first place in Best Peer Review (voted by all showcase attendees),
- second place in Best Oral Presentation and
- fourth place in Overall Top Design Team.
“I have seen family and friends unable to fully participate in outdoor activities due to their physical disabilities and the standard wheelchairs’ inability to accommodate complex terrain,” said Annasophia Palacios, LSC-Montgomery dual credit student and idea inventor. “It was important to us to develop a medical device to help them easily navigate their environments, allowing them to be completely independent.”
The LSC students spent a semester developing their design as part of an Honors in Research seminar led by LSC faculty Yiheng Wang, Ph.D., and Sara Azarpanah McAdam. This specialized and structured environment provided them with the expert guidance needed to transform their initial concept into an award-winning prototype.
“Once patented, the team plans to license it to a well-established outdoor wheelchair company to get our design into as many hands as possible,” said Chris Perrier, LSC-University Park student. “Although the patent process is daunting, this endeavor has ignited a strong drive in the team to turn our idea into reality. We hope our invention will allow more wheelchair users to continue to adventure outdoors in an innovative, user-friendly and affordable way.”
The TSGC Design Challenge, affiliated with NASA, challenges college students to solve real-world space exploration issues. Students receive opportunities to work directly with NASA engineers and scientists while they develop valuable career skills.
"We are tremendously proud of our students' achievements," said Yiheng Wang, Ph.D., LSC-CyFair engineering professor and Hyperion faculty advisor. "Their innovation and presentation skills impressed not only the judges but industry professionals who encouraged them to patent their invention and launch a startup."
Along with Palacios and Perrier, other LSC Honors College Hyperion team members included Mialexa Cruz and Mariam Ed-Abid, LSC-Montgomery students. Sara Azarpanah McAdam, LSC-Houston North business professor, also served as a faculty sponsor with Wang.
“We are immensely proud of our students for their outstanding accomplishments and deeply grateful to have such dedicated and supportive faculty members like Professors Wang and McAdam, whose mentorship has been instrumental in their success," said Aurora Lugo, LSC-CyFair biology professor and Honors College director.
Lone Star College System is now exploring ways to support the students with patent applications and entrepreneurial development, potentially launching a student-founded company based on the award-winning project. To learn more about LSC Hyperion’s all-terrain wheelchair design or the 2025 Texas Space Grant Consortium Design Challenge, visit IG.UTexas.edu/Texas-Space-Grant/2025/Spring-2025.
Lone Star College System enrolls over 90,000 students each semester providing high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education. LSCS is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Mario K. Castillo, J.D., serves as Chancellor of LSCS, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and has been named a 2024 Great Colleges to Work For® institution by the Chronicle of Higher Education. LSCS consists of eight colleges, seven centers, eight Workforce Centers of Excellence and Lone Star Corporate College. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.