AKRON, Ohio - Two University of Akron engineering students collaborated with a 14-year-old boy afflicted by a neurological disorder to create an adaptable arm brace that gives the teen better use of his arm.

Cooper Meshew, of Wooster, has Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which affects the nerves in his arms, legs, face, eyes, throat and lungs, the university said in a news release. He did not show signs of muscle weakness until he was 9, but the disease has progressed and for the last three years he's been unable to write his name.

Cooper had ideas for a design for a brace, which he helped develop with UA seniors Stephen Conklin and Brett Flesher after an Akron Children's Hospital doctor connected the boy with UA's Biomedical Engineering Department, the university said.

Conklin and Flesher worked with Cooper to create an adaptable brace that molds around his left arm. Cooper can add attachments to the brace.

Stephen Paterson, an engineering technician at UA, offered guidance and helped Cooper get special software for his personal three-dimensional printer.

"Cooper was motivated throughout this entire project," Flesher said in the release. "He knew what he wanted, what he needed and what he could do himself, which I found to be incredibly mature. To me, this project was not special because of Cooper's condition; it was special because, in a short amount of time, we acted as a solid team to create a simple and very practical new product that Cooper and the rest of the team should be proud of."

Cooper won awards and cash for the arm-brace project at the Bridging Engineering, Science and Technology Medicine Engineering Fair held in Akron earlier this month.

"I'm so excited and thankful for this opportunity to improve my arm's use," Cooper said in the release.