UMass Amherst Podcast Looks at Creation of Portable Hug Vest To Help Relieve Anxieties, Disorders

July 8, 2008

Contact:

Ed Blaguszewski 413/545-0444

AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s podcast series about the breakthrough discoveries of campus researchers focuses this month on the development of a portable hug vest—a new invention that promises to help people suffering from a wide range of problems become calmer, more focused and more grounded.

This “TechCast at UMass Amherst” episode includes interviews with Sundar Krishnamurty, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, and his graduate student, prize-winning inventor Brian Mullen. In addition, there is a discussion with sensory awareness expert Tina Champagne from the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton. Episodes are posted at
www.umasstechcast.org, where they can be downloaded to a computer or portable audio player. Visitors to the site also can subscribe to automatically receive new episodes of the podcast.

Weighted blankets or vests that apply pressure are an assistive technology being used primarily to help autistic patients become less agitated. A unique collaboration between an occupational therapist and the mechanical and industrial engineers at UMass Amherst is now bringing the benefits of sensory pressure to a wider range of people: psychiatric patients, people with ADHD, and even people with sleep disorders. Graduate student Brian Mullen, under the guidance of his mentor, Professor Krishnamurty, has been devising a new tool that’s comfortable, can be worn discretely by anyone anywhere, and that delivers just the right amount of pressure the wearer wants. It’s called the “Portable Hug Vest,” and Mullen is working with the office of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property (CVIP) in developing his company, Therapeutic Systems, to market the vest.

Tina Champagne, the occupational therapist at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, uses her special training in sensory awareness to help patients calm themselves. TechCast at UMass Amherst visited Champagne in the Sensory Awareness Room at the hospital to find out more about her work, her partnership with UMass Amherst and her hopes for the Portable Hug Vest.

TechCast at UMass Amherst is produced under the direction of the Office of News and Information at UMass Amherst in conjunction with CVIP. The program host is Francesca Rheannon, an award-winning producer whose work has been heard on National Public Radio, including WFCR in Amherst. The series is supported by a generous gift from UMass Amherst alumnus Lewis J. Geffen.

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