Standing by a poster depicting in full detail the complex union of muscles that make up the human body , David Sengeh works on a custom-made prosthetic leg inside MIT 's Media Lab . Here , he has come up with a technology that could change the whole field of bionics , and improve the lives of amputees the world over . As a doctorate student in the Biomechatronics Group , which looks at how technology can be used to enhance human physical capability , Sengeh has taken on the challenge to design the perfect fit for every prosthetic socket -- the interface between the body and the prosthetic limb , and a major source of discomfort for amputees . Sengeh has found a way to load MRI scans of a patient 's limbs onto a multilayer 3D computer to customize the socket design -- a development that could have a huge impact . `` I think it will change the whole industry , '' says Sengeh , who is from Sierra Leone . `` You just send us a minimum set of data and we will ship you a comfortable prosthetic socket , '' he adds . `` We are getting images , we are getting data that quantifies your body 's impedance , stiffness , how stiff each point is , and we can use that with the surface information that we have , and modeling that we do , to create you a perfect shape and a multi-material impedance prosthetic socket . '' Read this : Innovation saving lives . Legacy of war . His interest in improving the lives of amputees stems from his childhood in war-torn Sierra Leone . From 1991 to 2002 , the country was caught in the grip of a vicious war that took thousands of lives . One of the most common atrocities committed during the war was to hack off people 's limbs , scarring them for life both physically and psychologically . `` Seeing people who had lost their limbs and whose lives were just kind of cut short was very , very traumatizing , '' says Sengeh , who is from Bo , the West African country 's second biggest city . `` But it also opened this desire to engineer a solution . '' Read this : 'Shooting became just like drinking a glass of water ' But the horrors of war did n't prevent Sengeh from thinking big . His intellectual prowess was evident from a young age as he got one of the highest scores for a standardized test in Sierra Leone . In 2004 , he won a scholarship to study in Norway . Next , he got into Harvard to study at its School of Engineering and Applied Sciences , before joining MIT 's Media Lab . Yet the lasting legacy of Sierra Leone 's war has followed Sengeh all the way to the United States , shaping his innovative work to this day . He had realized early on that many amputees in Sierra Leone opted not to use any prostheses because of the discomfort they were causing them . `` It does n't matter if somebody gives you a pair of shoes that are worth $ 200 dollars -- if they 're two sizes too small for you , you will not wear it ; you will rather walk bare feet , '' says Sengeh . `` This is the same thing -- the prostheses were absolutely uncomfortable for them and it does n't matter whether it was free or not , they would not wear it . '' Sengeh now hopes that the custom-fitted , comfortable and affordable sockets he 's designing at MIT will be on the market within five years . Fostering innovation . But Sengeh is not only coming up with new creations that can impact lives and change industry . Whilst studying at Harvard he created his first NGO , called Global Minimum , a group encouraging Africans to solve their own problems , starting with malaria in Sierra Leone . Read this : From war orphan to teen ballerina . And in March last year , he launched Innovate Salone , a mentoring initiative aiming to inspire innovation and self-sufficiency in his native country . Innovate Salone uses a competition to fund education programs in Sierra Leone , covering everything from electronics to farming . One of the young students Sengeh mentors through this initiative is Kelvin Doe , a 15-year-old boy who created a radio station from scrap materials and discarded electronics . Sengeh brought Doe to present his inventions at MIT , making him the youngest ever person to be invited to MIT 's Visiting Practitioners Program . Read this : DIY Africa - Empowering a new Sierra Leone . And Sengeh is now spreading his concept , branching out to find other young innovators across Africa . `` We do have the talent and young people within Sierra Leone , within Africa as a whole , to invent the future , '' he says . `` We do not need primary aid , we do not need money , we do not need solutions and products to come from the West to be given to people and train them how to use it . `` That is not how you develop an economy -- the creative thinking , the ability to dare to dream and take the risk to develop a prototype . Those are what 's instrumental . Those are what 's needed to develop products that will change the world . That is what changes a country . ''
David Williams , 26 , is working to enhance the lives of amputees . He 's taken on the challenge to design the perfect fit for every prosthetic socket . Originally from Sierra Leone , he is today a PhD student at MIT 's Media Lab . He 's also the founder of Innovate Salone , a company working to inspire innovation in his country .