Vivian Weng, a Princeton alumna who majored in electrical engineering, has applied her skills to find an innovative solution to remedy a chilling situation.

An avid Blackberry user, Vivian learned the necessity of taking off her gloves or mittens while sending messages when outdoors. But in frigid winter weather, the task would become uncomfortable and frustrating because of numbed fingers and cold hands.

To remedy the situation, Vivian, along with her brother, Edward, invented mittens with fold-back thumb covers, freeing both of those fingers to text without totally exposing the hands to the elements. Their creation is called the Mittenberry.

Vivian called upon a network of contacts from when she was at Princeton for recommendations about manufacturers. Edward developed the website and business foundations. The finished product became available in retail stores shortly before the past holiday season,

Vivian is pursuing an M.B.A. at Harvard and Edward is currently a student at the School of Engineering, majoring in electrical engineering.