WORKSHOP: The 2018 RESNA Student Design Competition

这笔资金部分用于支持大学生设计竞赛（SDC），该竞赛将成为2018年RESNA年度会议的一部分，该会议将于7月11日至15日在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿水晶城凯att Regency举行。今天，美国有超过7000万人报告有不同程度的残疾，随着所谓的“婴儿潮”一代的年龄增长，这一数字可能会在未来几年增长。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的会员包括个人和机构，涵盖了一系列学科（包括研究人员、临床医生、供应商、制造商、消费者和教育工作者，他们在非营利和营利性环境中工作），所有这些人都致力于促进思想和信息的交流，以促进辅助技术的进步。一年一度的RESNA会议和学生设计竞赛结合起来，为经验丰富的康复工程师和即将进入该领域的学生创造了一个互动的论坛。该活动的独特之处在于其主要关注本科生，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，并为学生提供与同龄人以及以前的SDCs参与者建立联系的机会，其中许多人现在是与残疾人技术相关的服务，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）将创建博客文章，捕捉并存档他们的提交，这些将通过RESNA网站和AT Wiki无限期地保留。因此，教育工作者将能够与他们的学生分享这些信息，作为其他人已经完成的项目的例子，而服务提供者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。RESNA学生设计竞赛旨在促进创新和创造力，最终目标是生产能够帮助残疾人独立的技术。第一届SDC于1980年举行，作为首届RESNA会议的一部分；从那时起，来自125所不同大学和高等院校的学生提交了850多个设计，其中265多个设计被确定为获奖作品。本科生和硕士研究生都有资格提交参赛作品，参赛作品必须仅代表学生的作品；没有教师或专业人士可以作为共同作者，尽管教师可以作为顾问和/或导师被提及。今年的拨款将进一步扩大和加强发展局，以接纳更多参赛作品，并支持更多设计团队，特别是来自少数族裔、女性和残疾人士的设计团队。会议网站上发布了一份邀请参与的通知，并以电子方式分发给大量有工程和设计学院的学院和大学。由5名评委组成的评审团将预选至少6个进入半决赛的团队，每个团队中有两名成员将被邀请参加会议，并获得旅费和酒店资金以及免费注册。在会议开始时，这些团队将在国际观众和同行面前向评委展示他们的工作原型，并在平台环节中选出5个进入决赛的团队。评委将有机会向设计团队提问并提出建议和建议。此外，决赛选手将有机会在年度开发者论坛上展示他们的项目，重点介绍正在开发的新产品（过去一些SDC学生团队的设计已经获得专利，现在可以在商业上使用）。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This is funding to partially support the undergraduate Student Design Competition (SDC), which will be part of the 2018 annual RESNA conference to be held July 11-15 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA. Today, over 70 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 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 persons 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, educators will be able to share this information with their students as examples of projects that others have done, while service providers and persons with disabilities will be able to search for unique solutions to barriers they may face. 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 265 designs have been identified as winning entries from among over 850 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. 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 at least 6 semi-finalist teams, from each of which two members will be invited to attend the conference fully supported with travel and hotel funds as well as complimentary registration. At the beginning of the conference these teams will make presentations and show off their working prototypes to the judges before an international audience and their peers during a platform session where 5 finalist teams will be selected. Judges will have an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions and recommendations to the design teams. In addition, finalists will have an opportunity to present their projects during the Annual Developers' Forum, which highlights new products under development (some past SDC student team designs have been patented and are now available commercially).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.