Samuel Chua won the 2009 ALS Society of B.C. Excellence in Engineering Design Award. The $5000 prize was given to Chua for his project Automated Speech Recognition and Intelligibility Enhancement System with BiPAP Assisted Breathing. The award selection panel selected his project for its potential to improve the quality of life for those living with the disease. Those with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gerig’s Disease, have the life expectancy of 2 to 5 years after diagnosis. Making this time as comfortable as possible is something the ALS Society of B.C. strives to be able to do. Chau’s project best met the ALS Society’s goal of providing comfort to those diagnosed.