REU Site: Engineering and Computing in Rehabilitation and Assisitve Technologies

克利夫兰州立大学的康复与辅助技术工程与计算本科生研究体验（REU）现场项目提供了沉浸式的康复研究体验，这将有助于激励和准备不同群体的学生从事康复工程和辅助技术的职业。由于人口老龄化和医学进步延长了慢性病患者（如糖尿病）和创伤性事故（如车祸）受害者的寿命，美国的残疾人人数将在未来几十年增加。尽管国家需要康复技术，但进入康复工程领域的机会对许多学生来说是有限的，迫切需要增加和多样化有能力从事康复工程和辅助技术职业的学生人数。因此，这个项目的总体目标是：1)让不同的工程和计算机科学本科生群体沉浸在开发技术的挑战中，这些技术可以恢复那些手脚活动能力有限的人的日常功能。2)鼓励学生在康复和辅助技术方面寻求未来的机会。3)使学生能够在康复和辅助技术领域取得成功。在三年的时间里，ECRAT项目将让本科生参与为期10周的密集、原创和创造性的暑期实践研究和专业发展/培训体验，围绕REU学生与他们的同龄人、导师、医疗专业人员和残疾人的综合学习社区展开。该项目的成果将是培养一群有动力并准备从事康复和辅助技术职业的不同学生，以及一个可以在全国范围内传播的让学生沉浸在康复研究中的结构化项目。

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site program, Engineering and Computing in Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies (ECRAT) at Cleveland State University, offers an immersive experience in rehabilitation research that will help motivate and prepare a diverse group of students to pursue careers in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology. The number of people with disabilities will increase in the United States in the coming decades due to an aging population and advances in medicine that extend the lives of people with chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes) and victims of traumatic accidents (e.g., car crashes). Despite the national need for rehabilitation technology, opportunities to enter the field of rehabilitation engineering are limited for many students and there is a critical need to increase and diversify the population of students equipped to pursue careers in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology. Therefore the overall objectives of this project are to: 1) Immerse a diverse group of undergraduate engineering and computer science students in the challenges of developing technology to restore daily function to people who have limited ability to move their arms and legs. 2) Motivate students to pursue future opportunities in rehabilitation and assistive technology. 3) Empower students to succeed in careers in rehabilitation and assistive technology. Over a three year period, the ECRAT program will engage undergraduates students in a 10-week intensive, original and creative hands-on summer research and professional development/training experience centered around integrated learning communities that surround REU students with their peers, their mentors, medical professionals, and people with disabilities. The project's outcomes will be a diverse group of students motivated and prepared to pursue careers in rehabilitation and assistive technology and a structured program in immersing students in rehabilitation research that can be disseminated across the country.