QL+ Student Chapter at Virginia Tech

The Quality of Life Plus program (QL+) is a national nonprofit organization whose objective is to design and produce personalized solutions for injured veterans to improve their quality of life. QL+ partners with universities across America, providing engineering students with the opportunity to design real-world solutions for the daily challenges faced by injured veterans. These collaborations allow students to create a wide variety of custom assistive devices at no cost to the veterans who receive them. The partnership is beneficial to both students and veterans and consequently helps to build community and develop skilled, compassionate young engineers looking to make the world a better place.

QL+ at Virignia Tech

The QL+ national organization is closely connected with Virginia Tech in three major ways. Firstly, several senior design teams across multiple departments within the College of Engineering are sponsored by QL+ each year as they work on a year-long project for a QL+ challenger (the men and women who receive QL+ projects). Additionally, for the past two years, Virginia Tech has hosted the QL+ National Design Competition. Interested readers can see the article written by Sofia Issel in the Engineer’s Forum September 2024 issue for more information on the competition. And finally, the primary subject of this article, the QL+ Student Chapter at Virginia Tech (QL+ SC at VT) is the official QL+ affiliated design club for undergraduate students of all engineering disciplines.   

Students working in the APPLIED Lab during a sub-team meeting.

QL+ SC at VT is a unique engineering design club whose focus is delivering high quality, custom designed assistive devices to its challengers. This allows the club to offer new projects every year while providing students with the opportunity to complete meaningful work and improve the lives of community members with every project they complete. In recent semesters, members of the club have designed a prosthetic spike attachment for a para-bobsled athlete, built a kayak lift to help disabled individuals transport their boats, created customized modifications to an electric wheelchair to improve the ease-of-use for a triple amputee, and build a device allowing a paraplegic piano player to press the foot pedals on his instrument.. Many members feel that the most meaningful aspect of the club is the direct engagement they have with the challengers, often including a personal delivery of the devices upon completion. Designing custom devices for real people comes with many challenges, but at the end of the day it is incredibly fulfilling to see student-made creations improving their daily lives.

Getting Involved

QL+ is currently looking for new members from all engineering disciplines to join the team this fall. They welcome experienced upperclassmen looking to fill leadership roles as well as underclassmen seeking a learning opportunity and a place to develop their skills. Prospective new members can find QL+ officers at their booth at Gobblerfest, and they can also follow the official club Instagram @qlplusvt for updates on interest meetings and how to join. The club will be starting the year with all new projects, so returning and prospective members alike can look forward to new challenges and project teams. Active members can expect to attend weekly general body meetings as well as sub-team meetings to complete hands-on work on their projects. As QL+ members follow the engineering design process—from research and brainstorming to design, prototyping, and testing—they develop a broad range of valuable skills applicable in both the classroom and the workplace. QL+ is the perfect place for students looking for a unique and impactful design team experience on campus, and they hope to see many new faces at the interest meeting this semester!

A project team presents their design progress to the club.