RESNA Student Design Competition 2015

这笔资金将用于支持大学生设计竞赛(SDC)，该竞赛将成为6月10日至14日在丹佛举行的2015年RESNA年度会议的一部分。今天，美国有超过5600万人报告有不同程度的残疾，这个数字可能会在未来几年随着所谓的“婴儿潮一代”年龄的增长而增加。RESNA，即北美康复工程和辅助技术协会，是唯一一个专注于为残疾人提供技术的国际组织。RESNA的成员包括一系列学科的个人和机构(包括在非营利性和营利性环境中工作的研究人员、临床医生、供应商、制造商、消费者和教育工作者)，他们都致力于促进辅助技术进步的思想和信息交流。一年一度的RESNA会议和学生设计大赛结合在一起，为在职和有经验的康复工程师和即将进入该领域的学生之间的互动创造了一个论坛。这一活动的独特之处在于，它主要面向本科生，为参与者提供经验和技能，帮助他们在工程和设计职业生涯中取得成功。它鼓励和指导不同学科的学生参与辅助技术和康复工程领域，并为学生提供机会与他们的同龄人以及前几届残疾人士发展中心的参与者建立联系，这些人中的许多人现在是与残疾人士的技术相关的服务、研究和教育的领导者。此外，延续几年前开始的做法，所有参与者(不仅仅是决赛选手)都将创建博客帖子，以捕获和存档他们提交的内容，这些帖子将通过RESNA网站和AT Wiki无限期访问。因此，那些教书的人将能够与他们的学生分享这些信息，将其作为其他人所做项目的范例，而服务提供商和残疾人将能够为他们可能面临的障碍寻找独特的解决方案。更多关于RESNA及其年度会议的信息可在http://www.resna.org网站上获得，有关SDC的具体信息可在http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/wordpressmu/RESNA-SDC上找到，学生团队的参赛摘要包含在AT维基http://atwiki.assistivetech.net/index.php/ATWiki_Home.The RESNA学生设计比赛中，该比赛旨在促进创新和创造力，最终目标是生产有助于残疾人独立的技术。作为首届RESNA会议的一部分，第一届SDC于1980年举行；自那时以来，从来自125多所不同大学和高等学府的学生提交的800多件作品中，已有260多件设计被确定为获奖作品。本科生和硕士研究生候选人都有资格提交参赛作品，参赛作品只能代表学生的作品；任何教职员工或专业人员都不能被列为共同作者，尽管教职员工可能被称为顾问和/或导师。自2005年以来，NSF一直是该计划的支持者。今年的拨款将使SDC进一步扩大和加强，以便包括更多的参赛作品和支持更多的设计团队，特别是来自少数族裔、妇女和残疾人士的设计团队。大会网站上已经发布了参会邀请，并以电子方式分发给了大量设有工程和设计学院的学院和大学。一个由5名评委组成的团队将预选最多6个半决赛团队，每个团队将邀请两名成员参加会议，并获得全额旅费和酒店资金以及免费注册。6月11日星期四，在大会前的活动中，这些团队将向评委们做陈述并向公众展示他们的工作原型，最终将选出5支决赛队伍。评委将有机会向设计团队提问并提出建议和建议。会议的日程安排包括6月14日(星期日)的平台会议，入围者将向大会观众展示他们的设计；此外，入围者将有机会在6月12日(星期五)晚上的年度开发者论坛上展示他们的项目，该论坛重点介绍正在开发的新产品(一些过去的SDC学生团队设计已经获得专利，现在可以商业使用)。

This is funding to support the undergraduate Student Design Competition (SDC), which will be part of the 2015 annual RESNA conference to be held June 10-14 in Denver. Today, over 56 million people in the United States report some degree of disability, a number which will likely grow in coming years as the so-called "baby boomer" generation ages. RESNA, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, is the one organization with an international focus that is devoted solely to technology for individuals with disabilities. RESNA's membership consists of individuals and institutions covering a range of disciplines (including researchers, clinicians, suppliers, manufacturers, consumers and educators who work in both non-profit and for-profit settings), all of whom are dedicated to promoting the exchange of ideas and information for the advancement of assistive technology. The annual RESNA Conference and the Student Design Competition combine to create a forum for interaction between working and experienced rehabilitation engineers and students who are about to enter the field. Unique in its primary focus on undergraduates, the event provides participants with experience and skills that help them succeed in their engineering and design careers. It encourages and mentors students in various disciplines to become involved in the assistive technology and rehabilitation engineering fields, and provides an opportunity for the students to network with their peers as well as participants in previous SDCs, many of whom are now leaders in service, research, and education related to technology for people with disabilities. Furthermore, continuing a practice started a few years ago, all participants (not just the finalists) will create blog posts that capture and archive their submissions, and these will remain accessible indefinitely through the RESNA website and the AT Wiki. Thus, those who teach will be able to share this information with their students as examples of projects that others have done, while service providers and people with disabilities will be able to search for unique solutions to barriers they may face. More information about RESNA and its annual conference is available online at http://www.resna.org while information specific to the SDC may be found at http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/wordpressmu/RESNA-SDC and student team entry abstracts are included on the AT Wiki http://atwiki.assistivetech.net/index.php/ATWiki_Home.The RESNA Student Design Competition fosters innovation and creativity with the ultimate goal of producing technology that can contribute to the independence of individuals with disabilities. The first SDC was held in 1980 as part of the inaugural RESNA conference; since then over 260 designs have been identified as winning entries from among over 800 submitted by students from over 125 different universities and institutes of higher learning. Both undergraduate and master's level graduate candidates are eligible to submit entries, which must represent the work of students only; no faculty or professionals may be included as co-authors, although faculty may be mentioned as advisors and/or mentors. NSF has been a supporter since 2005. This year's funding will enable the SDC to be further expanded and enhanced, so as to include more entries and support for more design teams, especially from minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities. A call for participation has been posted on the conference website, and also distributed electronically to a large number of colleges and universities with engineering and design schools. A team of 5 judges will pre-select up to 6 semi-finalist teams, from which two members each will be invited to attend the conference fully supported with travel and hotel funds as well as complimentary registration. On Thursday, June 11, during the pre-conference activities these teams will make presentations and show off their working prototypes to the judges before a public audience, and 5 finalist teams will be selected. Judges will have an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions and recommendations to the design teams. The conference schedule includes a platform session on Sunday, June 14 in which the finalists will present their designs to the general conference audience; in addition, finalists will have an opportunity to present their projects during the Annual Developers' Forum on Friday evening, June 12, which highlights new products under development (some past SDC student team designs have been patented and are now available commercially).