GARDE: Developing a World-Class Rehabilitation Engineering Workforce in America's Heartland

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1159626PI: Nelson, Burnfield and GuThis project aims to pair two to four undergraduate mechanical engineering design teams with disabled individuals as clients annually for five years, with the target of creating new devices to aid in rehabilitation and/or routine daily living. The proposed senior capstone design program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has several objectives, all centered on using these directed undergraduate capstone projects to prepare a well trained and skilled engineering workforce in the area of rehabilitation engineering. The objectives are to: 1) provide opportunities for undergraduate students to become engaged in socially relevant design projects, with an emphasis on helping/rehabilitating individuals with disabilities to facilitate daily living; 2) cultivate teamwork and project management skills in undergraduate students; 3) leverage dissemination and outreach opportunities to attract more female students to engineering disciplines; and 4) provide undergraduate students with an introduction to entrepreneurship in the context of engineering design.Intellectual Merit Students will work with Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital to identify disabled clients for whom to design specialized assistive devices. They will perform needs assessment, brainstorm and evaluate solution concepts, and bring their designs to fruition through analysis, prototyping, and testing. As the students learn and implement the design process, special emphasis will be placed on entrepreneurship and dissemination of the designs. It is anticipated that new assistive technologies will be created through this process, leading to the advancement of engineering knowledge. Publications and patent applications with student participant authorship are expected. Broader Impacts The impact of the proposed project is expected to be very broad. The expected outcomes of these activities include: 1) increase in undergraduate students' interest to pursue careers and advanced studies in biomedical/mechanical engineering and related STEM fields, especially female students; 2) stimulation of an interest in commercialization of ideas and technology; 3) publications with the student participants as authors; 4) intellectual property disclosures based on the students' designs. The educational outcomes will also be published in engineering education journals. Additional disseminations efforts will be pursued through local K-12 schools, Scouting organizations, and student clubs, helping to attract more and diverse students into STEM disciplines. The technical outcomes of the students' designs may also lead to positive changes in rehabilitation and treatment for significant patient populations.