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VOTE: Student's Senior Project Needs Your Vote in International Competition!

VOTE: Student's Senior Project Needs Your Vote in International Competition!

UC's Ryan Eder has designed wheelchair-accessible fitness equipment. Now, his design is in an international competition. Public votes for his design will help move it up in the competition. The end result could be that his "Access" project comes closer to becoming a reality. So, go online to vote before July 20!

In 2007, Ryan Eder's University of Cincinnati senior project won what is arguably the world's most prestigious professional industrial design competition - leading to the work being featured in BusinessWeek.

And now his senior design project is in the running for a new distinction. His project, titled "The Access: Inclusive Fitness Equipment" is an entry in the international James Dyson Award competition, and it needs your VOTE to move up in the competition.

An eventual grand prize win would help make the project a reality because a grand prize win comes with an award of about $15,000. What's more, a grand prize win by Eder would also earn his college - UC's internationally ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) - about $15,000 as well.

The public voting DEADLINE is July 20. To vote

* Go to the James Dyson Award home page. http://www.jamesdysonaward.org/Default.aspx
* Click on the "Vote Now" icon.
* You will need to fill out a simple registration from that takes LESS THAN 30 seconds.
* After registration, you will be directed to an "Entries" page.
* Click on "The Access: Inclusive Fitness Equipment" entry.
* At the bottom of the entry, rate the entry as a "10" by clicking on the 10th star in a row of stars.
* You're done!

Eder's "The Access" is currently the lead vote-getter among all U.S. entries! It's fitness equipment that can accommodate the needs of those with various disabilities as well as non-disabled users as well.

Eder, 26, of West Chester, Ohio, but now living and working in Columbus, Ohio, explained, "I entered the competition because I was really proud of the project, and I wanted to draw some attention to the lack of wheelchair-accessible equipment available in fitness centers. It's an issue that is overlooked within the industry and a problem way overdue for a solution."