REU Site: Wireless Health Research and Education

摘要：无线健康研究与教育研究站（Research Experience for Undergraduate，简称REU）致力于解决如何在社区中对患者进行低成本监测以确保处方治疗的有效性的问题。以身体康复为例。在物理治疗师的监督下进行的练习将会正确完成。但是，一旦病人回家，就不能保证康复所需的锻炼是否做得很好，或者根本就没有。有了智能手机和无线电传感器等现代信息技术，现在可以部署便于患者使用的系统来提供这种监测。通过处理传感器产生的数据，可以向患者和他们的护理人员提供有意义的反馈，告诉他们练习得如何，以及他们是否可以进入下一组。这既保证了更好的护理，也降低了提供护理的成本。这在人口老龄化的情况下尤其重要，而且需要更多的帮助来实现尽可能长时间的独立生活。学生们将在他们的暑期研究中为这些应用开发新技术。其中一些项目将被用作下一年本科和研究生课程的起点，让更多的学生进一步发展它们，同时也了解这个新兴的无线健康领域。因此，研究和教育组件紧密结合，导致培训许多工程师，以支持改善和降低成本医疗保健的重要社会目标。该网站将影响科学和教育研究界。该提案的智力重点是开发无线健康实验设备和程序，其目标是在社区大规模部署应用，包括身体康复、慢性病监测、运动训练和促进健康（例如，通过锻炼）。目前，监测方法要么成本高昂，要么需要精心校准；我们的重点是稳健的程序，可以容忍设备误用。为此，在夏季制作的工具和程序将在常规课程中进一步扩展，包括高级设计，通过接触更多的人群来强化设计。通过这种方式，更大的本科生群体将参与研究，每个学年都会更新工具。这项研究将有多重好处：增加学生的技能，知识基础，为未来的学习做准备；并为科学、医学和社会相关的研究突破做出贡献。本网站的主要目标是为本科生，特别是女性和代表性不足的学生提供高质量的研究经验和专业发展。我们的招聘工作将侧重于从其他机构，特别是那些可能无法获得研究机会的机构中寻找学生来参加这个项目。通过精心设计的研究项目，参与的本科生积极参与到无线健康研究所的研究中，获得作为研究生的第一手生活经验。这种经历（平衡研究、专业发展和网络活动）使本科生学者受益，但也为参与研究的研究生和教师导师以及更广泛的研究社区提供了价值。此外，开发的工具和程序每年将支持50名本科生通过定期安排的高级设计课程进行研究。最后，参加其他暑期研究项目的学生，特别是来自社区大学的学生，也会参加我们的“脚手架”活动，以促进研究的进展。

Abstract: REU Site: Wireless Health Research and EducationThe Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Site for Wireless Health Research and Education addresses the problem of how to enable low-cost monitoring of patients in the community to ensure the effectiveness of prescribed therapies. Consider the example of physical rehabilitation. Exercises performed under the supervision of a physical therapist will be done properly. But once the patient goes home, there is no assurance that the exercises necessary for recovery are done properly, or at all. With modern information technology such as smart phones and radio-capable sensors, it is now possible to deploy systems that are easy for patients to use that provide such monitoring. Together with processing of the data the sensors produce, meaningful feedback can be provided to both the patients and their caregivers on how well they are doing the exercises, and whether they can progress to the next set. This promises both better care and lower cost in providing it. This is especially important with the aging of the population, and the need for additional assistance in achieving independent living for as long as possible. Students will work on developing new technologies for such applications during their summer research. Some of the projects initiated will then be used as the jumping off point for undergraduate and graduate courses in the following year for many more students to develop them further while also learning about this emerging field of wireless health. Thus, the research and educational components are tightly coupled, resulting in training of many engineers to support the important societal goal of improved and lower cost healthcare.This Site will impact both scientific and educational research communities. The intellectual focus of this proposal is on the development of wireless health experimental equipment and procedures with the goal of enabling large-scale deployments in the community for applications including physical rehabilitation, monitoring of chronic conditions, sports training and promotion of wellness (e.g., through exercise). Presently, monitoring methods are either costly or require elaborate calibration; our focus is on robust procedures that are tolerant of equipment misuse. To this end, tools and procedures produced in the summers will be further extended in regular courses, including senior design, to harden the designs through exposure to larger populations. In this way a much larger of group of undergraduate students will participate in research, with tools that are refreshed in each academic year. This research will have multiple benefits: increasing students' skills, knowledge base, and preparation for future study; and contributing to research breakthroughs with scientific, medical, and social relevance. The main objective of this Site is to provide high quality research experiences and professional development to undergraduates, especially women and underrepresented students. Our recruitment efforts will focus on identifying students from other institutions, particularly those that may not have access to research opportunities, to participate in the program. With carefully designed research projects, participating undergraduates become actively involved in the research of the Wireless Health Institute, gaining a first-hand experience of life as a graduate student. This experience (balancing research, professional development, and networking activities) benefits the undergraduate scholars but also provides value to participating graduate student and faculty mentors, and the broader research communities. Moreover, the tools and procedures developed will each year support 50 undergraduates per year in pursuing research through regularly scheduled senior design courses. Finally, students in other summer research programs, particularly from community colleges, participate in our scaffolding designed to enhance progress to research.