The helper
Jacob Wamala Photo: Allegra Boverman Jacob Wamala spent two years as a wide receiver for MIT’s varsity football team, goes for long runs along the Charles River and engages in hours-long pickup basketball games with his fraternity brothers as a form of stress relief. Yet the senior from Lowell, Mass., has spent much of his time at the Institute putting himself in the shoes of people with physical limitations and disabilities, attempting to create solutions to help them with everyday activities. Wamala spent two years doing research in the AgeLab, where scientists and engineers study aging’s impact on the mind and body. A mechanical engineering major, he worked extensively with AGNES, the “Age Gain Now Empathy System,” a suit designed to give the wearer a feel for what it is like to be elderly. “For a test, we went to Star Market to see how it actually makes you feel...