Capstone Design and Rehabilitation Engineering at the University of South Florida

0933496 Dubey南佛罗里达大学（USF）的机械工程顶点设计课程在过去几年中已经发展成为一个理想的课程安排。该课程基于15周的学期，让学生有机会在结构化的时间内解决“现实世界”的问题。对学生的时间限制模仿了行业必须满足的最后期限。 大部分课程项目的想法，以问题陈述的形式，由康复工程和技术中心提供，该中心位于USF。该中心确定残疾人无障碍。康复工程和技术中心提供了一名教师，并提供了建造原型的资金。此外，PI是康复工程和技术中心的副主任，并与物理治疗学院，校内施里纳儿童医院和詹姆斯A。Haley退伍军人医院，以便接触目标人群。该提案的一个亮点是纳入了为残疾人开发娱乐设施的内容。使人们能够重返工作岗位或增强家庭功能的设备或系统对于个人的独立至关重要，然而，能够享受休闲活动可大大提高个人的生活质量，恢复人的尊严。几个项目的想法是从一个令人兴奋的和独特的合作与戏剧和舞蹈节目在艺术学院在南佛罗里达州的结果。智力优势：顶点项目的拟议设计和开发将通过促进辅助和康复技术来提供智力价值，以帮助残疾人独立进行日常生活活动。学生不仅在工程原理，设计过程和产品开发方面知识渊博，而且通过广泛传播，任何开发的技术都有很大的潜力来推进技术和科学知识。通过舞蹈和工程的合作伙伴关系，一个令人兴奋的，罕见的，创造性的机会，将艺术的角度在工程设计。学生们受益于这种新颖的教育体验，鼓励他们为动态和多样化的问题集设计创新设备。这使学生能够创造性地伸展，并可能对他们的生活产生深远的积极影响。更广泛的影响：本课程将通过在本科教育水平实施的康复技术创新研究，在工程，辅助技术和康复领域提供更广泛的影响。与传统的高级设计课程不同，这门课程鼓励学生追求康复工程的职业生涯，因为它专注于辅助技术。这些学生通过这门课程接受的培训将加强他们的就业前景。此外，通过该中心，学生将与专业人士和残疾人有直接和持续的接触，他们是开发设备的潜在用户。这种接触将开始在项目开发的背景收集/头脑风暴阶段，并将继续到原型阶段，在那里学生将征求反馈意见，对他们的设备的实际利用。 一个机会，这是目前不可用的，将通过这项赠款提供给一个本科生参与作为一个讲师助手。本科生（REU）计划的研究经验将被用来推广到不同的代表性不足的教育部门。此外，讲师与招聘和保留工程办公室有着密切的工作关系，该办公室为各种符合NSF入选标准的学生提供机会。目前，有几名学生参与了佛罗里达州-乔治亚州路易斯·斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟。

0933496DubeyThe Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design course at the University of South Florida (USF) has evolved over the past several years into an ideal course arrangement. The course, based on a 15-week semester, gives students the opportunity to work on 'real-world' problems in a structured amount of time. The time constraints imposed on the students mimic the deadlines that industries must meet. The majority of the course project ideas, in the form of problem statements, are provided by the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology, which is based at USF. The center identifies barriers of accessibility for individuals with disabilities. The Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology supplies an instructor and provides the funds to construct the prototypes. Additionally, the PI is the associate director of the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology and has close affiliations with the School of Physical Therapy, on-campus Shriners Children's Hospital, and the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital for access to the target population. A highlight of this proposal is the inclusion of the development of recreational devices for persons with disabilities. Devices or systems to enable people to return to work or enhance function at home are crucial for one's independence, however being able to enjoy leisure activities greatly improves one's quality of life and restores human dignity. Several of the project ideas are an outcome from an exciting and unique collaboration with the Theatre and Dance Program in the College of the Arts at USF. Intellectual Merit: The proposed design and development of the capstone projects will provide intellectual merit by furthering assistive and rehabilitative technologies to assist persons with disabilities to independently perform the activities of daily living. Not only will the students become knowledgeable and skilled in engineering principles, the design process, and product development, but there is great potential for any developed technologies to advance technical and scientific knowledge, via broad dissemination. Through the dance and engineering partnership an exciting, rare, and inventive opportunity is presented to incorporate the arts perspective in engineering design. The students benefit from this novel educational experience, which encourages them to design innovative devices for a dynamic and diverse problem set. This allows the students to stretch creatively and will likely have a far-reaching positive impact on their lives. Broader Impact: This class will provide a broader impact in the engineering, assistive technology and rehabilitative areas through innovative research in rehabilitation technologies implemented at the undergraduate education level. Unlike traditional senior design courses, this class encourages students to pursue careers in rehabilitation engineering due to its focus on assistive technologies. The training that these students receive through this course will strengthen their job prospects. Furthermore, through the Center the students will have direct and continual contact with professionals and people with disabilities who are potential users of the devloped devices. This contact will begin in the background gathering/brainstorming phases of project development and will continue to the prototype phase where the students will solicite feedback regarding the practical utilization of their devices. An opportunity, that is not currently available, will be provided through this grant for an undergraduate to be involved as an instructor helper. The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program will be utilized to outreach to different underrepresented educational sectors. Also, the instructors have a close working relationship with the Engineering Office of Recruitment and Retention who provide access to a variety of students fitting the NSF inclusion criteria. Several students are currently involved in The Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.