Students at Burnaby's BCIT are building devices that may improve the quality of life for people living with ALS.

Last month was ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) awareness month. To help mark that, students in BCIT's biomedical engineering program held a recent event to highlight a project designed by three students, called the "eyeSelect".

The project is designed to control media devices through movement of the eyes.

The device is attached to the frame of a pair of eyeglasses and captures images of the eye without obscuring the field of view.

The project, designed by students Alan Kwok, Benny Chick and Alex Sayer, earned top honours in the Dr. Jim McEwen Excellence in Engineering Design Awards held by the ALS Society of B.C.

Two other BCIT teams placed second and third in the prestigious competition.

"It is exciting to think that a device created by a BCIT student may one day be in wide use, improving the lives of those with ALS," said Bruno Jaggi, a BCIT faculty supervisor and biomedical engineering instructor.

For more information, see www.bcit.ca.