Gary Piercey

Piercey's "Operation Elder Care" is a yearlong, multidisciplinary project that brings students together with senior citizens in ways tailored to help address the seniors' health and economic needs and increase the students' awareness of those needs. Students create Web sites with information of value to seniors and tutor them in their use. They also design access ramps, create computer-based laboratories to conduct experiments that measure the effects of aging, produce video documentaries from interviews with seniors, and create botanical gardens for the seniors' enjoyment. Through this experience, students increase their skill in multiple disciplines and enrich the lives of the community's seniors.