Rehabilitation Engineering Design Class

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

0453339 Richard L. Goldberg This project is a continuation of the successful NSF-supported project (award #9981867) in which undergraduate students designed and built some 15 custom devices for people with disabilities. The objectives of the proposed activities are to enhance engineering education, provide students with insight into careers in biomedical engineering, improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, and serve the community. Due to the success of the previous effort, a new design class was created in 2003, called Rehabilitation Engineering Design. Assistive technology projects are now developed as part of this new class, which also covers important issues in engineering design, communication, ethics, and rehabilitation engineering. Students will spend the semester designing and building the device, and at the end of the semester, the students are to give the device to the disabled individual(s) and their therapists. The class is to be supported with lectures by the instructor and guests, as well as field trips, writing assignments, and oral presentations. The Principal Investigator is to provide an annual report that includes a description of the projects successfully completed during the previous academic year. The report will be combined with similar accounts from other NSF-supported Design Projects and published in a book for general distribution. March 7, 2005