Problem Solvers Conference

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PI: Stern, Virginia W.Proposal Number: 0943378Intellectual Merit: The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project on Science, Technology, and Disability (Directorate for Education and Human Resources) is requesting support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering to implement a project, 'The Problems Solvers: Education and Career Paths of Engineers with Disabilities.' The long-term goal of this project is to engage the engineering community, particularly engineers and engineering students with disabilities, in activities that will facilitate the entry and advancement of engineers with disabilities and thus increase the representation of engineers with disabilities in public and private sector workforce as well as in academia. To achieve this goal, AAAS is proposing to: Convene a workshop where a diverse group of engineers and engineering students can share their unique approaches to succeeding in academic and professional environments as they overcome physical, sensory, communication, and attitudinal roadblocks. Collect the strategies and tools used by successful engineers to navigate the traditional barriers that discourage and prevent individuals with early onset or acquired disabilities to enter the engineering profession Develop and publish workshop findings and recommendations, thus providing a resource specific to the engineering community. Disseminate the post-workshop report to students, deans, faculty, employers, counselors, parents, and engineering societies. Each of these groups has an important role to play in encouraging or discouraging a person with a disability to participate in the engineering profession. These stakeholders, gatekeepers, and gate-openers are significant not only for the middle or high school student with a disability who cares about 'what works,' but also for the early career engineer who becomes adventitiously disabled from a road accident or sequelae of a disability like multiple sclerosis. Broader Impacts: Outreach to underrepresented groups in engineering has focused almost exclusively on minorities and women. Except for an occasional token photograph of a person in a wheelchair, publications and programs designed to strengthen the pathway to engineering education and careers for precollege and postsecondary students have not included students or working engineers with disabilities. This proposed project will expand the work of the NSF focus on broadening participation in engineering. The typical workshop on persons with disabilities presents one or very few individuals reporting on their success in education or employment. The Problem Solvers Workshop will have a completely different dimension, assembling 60 selected engineers and engineering students, diverse in gender, ethnicity, geography, current age and age of onset of disability, field of engineering, and sector of employment. As the title of the Workshop suggests, engineers with disabilities focus on problem solving in their professional lives and also in their personal lives. As individuals with disabilities, each participant has developed his or her unique approach to overcoming barriers or the limitations presented by their disability. These insights will add to ongoing research on universal design; it can also contribute to adaptations of existing assistive technology to fit the dimensions of the specific engineering field, job requirements, or individual needs.