Alumni Awards
Distinguished Alumni Award: Bryce Rutter
Bryce Rutter, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Metaphase Design Group in St. Louis, Missouri, has received the 2012 Distinguished Alumni Award from the College
of Applied Health Sciences. He completed a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design at Carlton University in Ontario, a master’s degree in Industrial Design at the University
of Illinois, and a PhD in Kinesiology at the University of Illinois.
While earning his PhD, Dr. Rutter became aware that 95% of all the products we interface with we primarily do so using our hands. He brought his fascination with hands together
with his expertise in industrial design and kinesiology and founded Metaphase Design Group in 1991. It is the first and remains the only design consultancy that specializes in the
research, ergonomics, and development of hand-held products across all industries.
The company’s extensive list of innovative and award-winning designs include the Oral-B Cross Action toothbrush, which was recognized for excellence by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum
of Architecture and Design; the Microsoft Mouse 2.0, which revolutionized mouse design and earned accolades from PC and I.D. Magazines, an Excellence in Design Award from Appliance
Design, and installation in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection; the Medtronic Hydrodebrider, the first and only powered irrigation system that removes bacteria from the
paranasal sinuses in the operating room or office, which received a 2010 Medical Device Excellence Award from the Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry and a 2010 Excellence in Design
Award from Appliance Design magazine; and the Microlet and Breeze Meter designed for Bayer, which enables people with diabetes to check blood glucose levels discreetly and without pain. This
product earned a Good Design Award, the most prestigious global award for new product design, and was named one of the top 36 products of the 1990s by Business Week.
In 2005, Dr. Rutter received the Alexander C. Williams, Jr. Design Award from the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society for outstanding contributions to designs that significantly impact
users and exemplify the excellent use of empirical human factors and ergonomic design principles. In 2009, he was named Inventor of the Year by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St.
Louis for his work in combining kinesiology and industrial design, which has resulted in more than 100 patents. He also received the 2011 AAMI/Becton & Dickinson Professional Achievement
Award from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation in recognition of his contributions to the improvement of medical devices, instruments, and systems.
Harold Scharper Award: Tiana Tozer
As a college sophomore majoring in romance languages and political science at the University of Oregon, Tiana Tozer had her sights set on a career in international relations, starting
with a stint in the Peace Corps. Her plans changed dramatically when an intoxicated driver hit a car she was riding in. Her legs were crushed when she was thrown from the car and run over.
She endured more than 30 surgeries to rebuild bone and muscle and though she can walk short distances, relies upon her wheelchair for maximum mobility.
Within six months of her accident, Ms. Tozer was appearing in schools as a speaker for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Within a year, she was playing wheelchair basketball. She completed her
undergraduate degrees at the University of Oregon and came to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to pursue a master’s degree in international relations. She was a standout player
on the Illinois women’s wheelchair basketball team, and was twice named the team’s Most Valuable Player. During her three years at Illinois, the team won three national championships. In 1992
and 1996, she played on Team USA’s bronze and silver medal-winning Paralympic wheelchair basketball teams.
Ms. Tozer was invited to Bosnia to teach wheelchair basketball to veterans of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Upon her return to Portland, Oregon, she worked first as a public relations
specialist for the Standard Insurance Company and then as a program manager for Mercy Corps, a Portland-based nonprofit organization that works to alleviate poverty and oppression by building
secure and productive communities around the world.
She spent nearly a year-and-a-half in Iraq, where she managed, implemented, and enhanced disability services and programs. She battled to overcome attitudinal and physical barriers that kept
Iraqis with disabilities from having full lives, and managed a literacy program that taught more than 10,000 women to read and write. After her work in Iraq, Mercy Corps sent Ms. Tozer to Sudan,
where she eventually assumed responsibility for all of the organization’s projects in Southern Kordofan before returning to the United States in 2011.
As a professional motivational speaker with Fisher’s Speakers Agency since 1998, Ms. Tozer has spoken with thousands of teenagers across the country about responsible choices, self-esteem, and
overcoming obstacles. She addresses both youth and adult audiences to dispel myths about disability. An accomplished writer who has published articles, opinion pieces, and short stories, she is
now working to complete her memoir. In 2010, she received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the University of Oregon.