Capstone Design Projects in Rehabilitation to Aid Persons with Disabilities

Florida Institute Of Technology, Melbourne FL

Investigators

Abstract

PI: Mitra, Kunal Proposal Number: 1403345 A BS program in Biomedical Engineering started at Florida Institute of Technology in the Fall 2012 semester. The strategic vision for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Florida Tech is to advance healthcare by integrating education, discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. The objective of this proposal is to develop a novel approach to senior year capstone design projects for students enrolled in BS in Biomedical Engineering by engaging the local medical community and industry representative. The capstone design project is structured as a three-semester sequence beginning in the spring semester of the junior year and introduces students to the team approach for problem solution. Every year a student Design Showcase is organized where all capstone projects are presented in a poster format setting sometimes with working breadboard designs. Members of industry are invited to attend the showcase to judge projects and speak to students and faculty. Intellectual Merit: A unique aspect of the proposed senior capstone design project is that it will be guided jointly by Florida Tech faculty and practicing physicians and as well as industry professional supporting the project. The physicians along with the faculty and industry representative will provide presentations of case studies to the students during the junior year. Then during that semester, the students will be required to develop proposals and to make presentations that will be evaluated by the participating faculty and physicians. In their senior year, students on multidisciplinary teams will execute the projects under supervision of participating faculty and physicians. In order to better prepare students for the capstone project, a clinical immersion experience is proposed. As part of clinical immersion period during summer at end of the junior year, eight to ten undergraduate students entering their senior year will be invited each year to participate in six or seven weeks program to observe the clinical activities, acquire communication skills necessary to interact with clinicians, and identify needs that can subsequently be addressed in their biomedical design projects. The clinical immersions will be held at organizations such as Orlando VA Medical Center, Brevard Rehabilitation Medicine, HealthSouth Sea Pines Rehabilitation Hospital, NASA Kennedy Space Center, and The Back Center. While this approach may be common in universities with medical schools, such an approach for a university without a medical school is unique and is being proposed for conducting team-based senior year design projects. The goal of the clinical immersion program is to provide opportunity to students to interact with the physicians so as to understand the working principles and any limitations of existing technologies and this in turn will trigger discussions and need to develop new design projects. The students interested in developing the entrepreneurial dreams will be provided an opportunity to take elective courses in Junior and Senior Year offered through Business Incubator Center. Broader Impacts: This development of devices which will aid persons with disabilities will (a) provide a practical engineering experience as well as a personally rewarding experience to the student; this may also encourage them to use their specialized skills in the future to benefit individuals with disabilities; (b) to help individuals with disabilities become more independent by designing and building custom assistive technology devices that address their needs; (c) to facilitate learning and reflection about the daily life of an individual who has a disability, as well as the daily lives of the family members, therapists and educators who are in close contact with them. Students develop their teamwork and communication skills (both oral and written), learn about the product development process used in industry, and are made aware of the unique requirements and constraints of medical device design thereby preparing them for careers in biomedical engineering.