Tara Newell (left), Aidan Zentner, Leah Werme, Jacob Lockey, Shani Ross and Dan Rizzieri hold the winning national competition medals at Virginia Tech on April 26, 2026. (Project S.E.R.V.E)

The team’s athlete-centered design helps Paralympic sledder and could substantially reshape adaptive equipment accessibility

BY LIBBY BONDI, STAFF WRITER

George Mason University’s bioengineering senior design team took first place at the third annual Project S.E.R.V.E. national design competition, beating host Virginia Tech with a device designed to help Paralympic athletes compete in extreme cold.

The team, comprised of seniors Jacob Lockey, Aidan Zentner, Leah Werme and Subhi Mekki, is known as “Team 4Ward.” They developed a residual limb warming device for Dan Rizzieri, a double below-the-knee amputee who specializes in bobsled and skeleton for the USA Paralympic team.

Before his mentorship involvement in the project, Rizzieri had never used a residual limb warming device.

“I just tough it out … my leg will freeze up,” he said. “By the time I’m done, I go and try to warm it up.”

Instead, he now has a device built specifically for him to avoid that kind of pain during his practice and competitions.

“I think they mentored me,” Rizzieri said. “They were so willing to listen to everything that I needed … because really, they were designing it for me.”

The Project S.E.R.V.E National Design Competition was originally developed by Dr. Christopher Arena of Virginia Tech and Kristie Yelinek during her time with Project S.E.R.V.E.

“The main focus of our [Project S.E.R.V.E’s] mission is to use the talent and generosity of student engineers to serve those who have served our country and communities,” Executive Director Tara Newell said.

Selected through a competitive process, Team 4Ward set out to build a device centered entirely on Rizzieri’s needs.

Dan Rizzieri (left), Leah Werme, Aidan Zentner and Jacob Lockey present their findings in a supplementary informational poster session at Virginia Tech on April 25, 2026. (Shani Ross)

From the beginning, the team had to decide between electrical and chemical heating systems. They ultimately chose chemical heat packs for their simplicity, reusability and safety.

Unlike electrical systems, the chemical design eliminated the need for batteries or wiring, reducing the risk of malfunction in harsher conditions.

“Because, not with the bobsled team explicitly, but potentially being used for skeleton, if something like a microcontroller or a USB panel got crushed against the ice wall, it could stop working or become unsafe,” Zentner said. “With ours, even if something breaks, it’s harmless; edible even.”

The design also heavily prioritized ease of use, with heat packs stored in zippered pockets that could be operated with one hand. 

“Every decision we made was about making it as accessible as possible,” Lockey said. “Whether that meant vertical zippers or simple heat packs that only require a flick of a metal disc.”

However, designing for a residual limb introduced a unique set of challenges.

Rizzieri’s limb, which is congenital rather than the result of injury, presented an added layer of complexity due to its unique shape and structure.

One of the biggest hurdles came in regulating heat. Chemical heat packs, while simple, do not allow for direct temperature control. Early versions of the device reached high temperatures.

“We had to somehow take the temperature from about 52 degrees Celsius down to below 41,” Werme said.

According to senior design professor Shani Ross, the team’s model faced skepticism early on.

“At first, people weren’t sure about the chemical direction,” Ross said. “But they persevered, refined their design and people began to see the vision.”

The team managed to put together the correct combination of materials and build their design while meeting all regulations.

“We started out with a cut-up T-shirt and silicone gel pads and ended up with a fully fabricated device.” Lockey said.

Leah Werme, Jacob Lockey, Dan Rizzieri and Aidan Zenter test their device at an ice rink at Virginia Tech on April 26, 2026. (Shani Ross)

When Mason’s team was announced as the winner, the moment was the culmination of months of work. However, for the team, the real success came even earlier.

“When Dan said he loved it and was going to wear it, I was like, ‘All right, we won. Nothing else matters,’” Werme said. 

Lockey shared the sentiment, describing his experience and connection with Dan throughout the process.

“You know, like, winning first place was great, but seeing Dan’s face when we made something that he actually would use, that was priceless,” Lockey said.

While the competition is still in its early years, its impact is already beginning to extend beyond the university.

Newell hopes to incorporate interdisciplinary collaboration in the future, including psychology for students to better understand the mental health impact of adaptive design.

At its core, the mission remains the same: “Engineering with empathy,” Newell said.

For Team 4Ward, the journey isn’t over.

The group plans to pursue a patent for their device and will send the final product to Rizzieri for use in his future competitions. They also presented their work at Mason’s CEC Undergraduate Research Celebration on May 5.

Overall, for athletes like Rizzieri, devices like Team 4Ward’s mean something simple but powerful. 

As Dan says: “Having products like this that can be designed, just puts us [Paralympic athletes] on that level where we can think about one less thing.”