Hands-on Learning at SSU
More than a case study. Real solutions for real people.
Master of Occupational Therapy students and Plastics Engineering Technology students spent a semester designing and 3D printing assistive devices for real community volunteers. Four of them got built.
A community volunteer with hand neuropathy was finding it harder and harder to cook. Another wanted to keep gardening from a wheelchair.
Students at Shawnee State built them both a solution.
Assess a real need. Then go build it.
Graduate students in the Master of Occupational Therapy program and undergraduates in Plastics Engineering Technology came together for an interdisciplinary project: assess a real need, justify the approach with evidence, and then actually engineer and fabricate a device using the university’s 3D printing lab. Four devices were completed, including a custom meat shredder and a wheelchair-mounted gardening table.
“This collaboration between our occupational therapy program and plastics engineering is not theoretical,” said Alissa Cannoy, Director of the Master of Occupational Therapy. “Our students are able to assess a real need, justify it with evidence, and work together and problem-solve to physically build a solution.”
“We’re not just imagining solutions with this collaboration. We build something tangible that could improve someone’s independence.”
Alissa Cannoy
Director, Master of Occupational Therapy
The therapists met the lab.
ThE engineers met the person.
For the occupational therapy students, the lab widened what the job could look like.
“I knew that we could always come up with different assistive devices, and occupational therapy has always been working with what you have and adapting on the way,” said Cameryn Davidson, who worked on the meat shredder. “But working with the 3D printing lab has definitely opened up new doors, inexpensive ways to help community volunteers, and made it personalized to them.”
For the engineering students, it put a person at the end of the drawing.
“It felt good being able to help someone out,” said Jayden Underwood, who designed the wheelchair gardening table. “Not many people understand or know 3D printers. So being able to help someone and make something, it felt really good.”
For one of them it was closer to home than that.
“My mother actually graduated from the occupational therapy program 20 years ago,” said Logan Salisbury. “It was neat being able to work with something I grew up around as well.”
“It felt good being able to help someone out.”
Jayden Underwood
Plastics Engineering Technology student
Shawnee State occupational therapy and plastics engineering technology students review a 3D rendered model of their community project
Easier at a school this size.
“Innovation, when people work as a team, really brings out the best of the different types of disciplines,” said Adam Miller, Dean of the College of Business and Engineering Technology. “I believe innovation happens at the intersection of different disciplines and people bringing those ideas together.”
That intersection is easier to reach at a university this size. The OT program and the plastics lab are a short walk apart, and the people running them know each other.
“Our students graduate understanding client-centered care and how to collaborate across professions to support an interdisciplinary approach to treatment, which is unique and important in our professions,” Cannoy said. “We’re not just imagining solutions with this collaboration. We build something tangible that could improve someone’s independence.”
You won’t graduate without doing the work.
Starting with students who entered in fall 2026, every Shawnee State undergraduate completes at least one approved hands-on experience before they graduate. It is a requirement, not a recommendation.
Learn more about Experiential Learning at SSU