John P. Farris
Professor, Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering Grand Valley State University
- Title Professor, Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering
Grand Valley State University - Email farrisj@gvsu.edu
- Education PhD, Mechanical Engineering, University of Rhode Island
John Farris’s work focuses on medical device design. He works in an ongoing collaboration with the Lincoln Developmental Center, a Grand Rapids public school serving approximately 120 severely impaired students, and Mobility Opportunities Via Education/Experience (MOVE). Through this collaboration, they have developed the prototype for a lean-activated wheelchair that responds to the user’s upper-body deflection as it improves trunk strength. Full-time graduate students in GVSU’s Biomedical Engineering program are playing a key part in getting this wheelchair to production as they work with Dr. Farris to improve its design as they participate in translational research.