From left: Darek Bushnaq, V-LINC President, Theo Pinette, Executive Director, Neil Rothman, Mechanical Engineering Professor, and Angela Tyler, Volunteer Manager

On April 30, V-LINC honored UMBC’s department of mechanical engineering at their annual volunteer recognition event at the Cylburn Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. V-LINC is a Baltimore-based non-profit organization that connects engineers and people with disabilities to create technological solutions to improve participants’ independence and quality of life.

The mechanical engineering department received V-LINC’s “Partnership of the Year” honor. Professor of the Practice Neil Rothman, mechanical engineering, accepted the award on behalf of the department. Rothman has worked with student teams to design innovative solutions for V-LINC clients, including an adaptive swing, interchangeable tool, squeeze machine, and elliptical machine.

UMBC was one of several organizations honored by V-LINC at their volunteer recognition event. Other awardees included Johns Hopkins University’s department of bio-medical engineering and the Baltimore chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. UMBC has enjoyed a long history of partnership with V-LINC. Dean Drake, associate vice-president for research, serves on V-LINC’s board of directors and David Salkever, public policy, was one of the co-founders of LINC, a predecessor organization.