Capstone Design and Rehabilitation Engineering at the University of South Florida

南佛罗里达大学(USF)的机械工程顶石设计课程在过去几年里已经发展成为一种理想的课程安排。这门课程为期15周，让学生有机会在有计划的时间内解决“现实世界”的问题。对学生施加的时间限制模仿了行业必须达到的最后期限。大多数课程项目的想法，以问题陈述的形式，由总部设在美国联邦的康复工程和技术中心提供。该中心确定了残疾人无障碍的障碍。康复工程和技术中心提供一名教员，并提供建造原型的资金。此外，PI是康复工程与技术中心的副主任，并与物理治疗学院、校园内的Shriners儿童医院和James A.Haley退伍军人医院建立了密切的联系，以接触目标人群。这项提案的一个亮点是包括为残疾人开发娱乐设施。使人们能够重返工作岗位或增强家庭功能的设备或系统对一个人的独立至关重要，而能够享受休闲活动则极大地提高了一个人的生活质量，恢复了人的尊严。其中几个项目想法是与美国旧金山艺术学院的戏剧和舞蹈项目进行了令人兴奋和独特的合作的结果。智力价值：Capstone项目的拟议设计和开发将通过进一步发展辅助和康复技术，帮助残疾人独立开展日常生活活动，从而提供智力价值。学生不仅将在工程原理、设计过程和产品开发方面变得知识和熟练，而且任何已开发的技术都有巨大的潜力，通过广泛的传播来促进技术和科学知识的发展。通过舞蹈和工程的合作，提供了一个令人兴奋的、难得的和创造性的机会，将艺术观点融入到工程设计中。学生从这种新颖的教育体验中受益，这鼓励他们为动态和多样化的问题集设计创新的设备。这让学生们可以创造性地伸展身体，很可能会对他们的生活产生深远的积极影响。更广泛的影响：这门课程将通过在本科教育水平上实施康复技术的创新研究，在工程学、辅助技术和康复领域提供更广泛的影响。与传统的高级设计课程不同，这门课程鼓励学生追求康复工程的职业生涯，因为它的重点是辅助技术。这些学生通过本课程接受的培训将增强他们的就业前景。此外，通过该中心，学生将与专业人士和残疾人士进行直接和持续的接触，这些人是开发的设备的潜在用户。此联系将从项目开发的后台收集/集思广益阶段开始，并将继续到原型阶段，在该阶段，学生将就其设备的实际使用征求反馈意见。通过这项资助，将为本科生提供一个目前还没有的机会，让他成为一名辅导员。本科生研究经验(REU)计划将被用来推广到不同的代表性不足的教育部门。此外，讲师与工程招聘和留用办公室有密切的工作关系，该办公室为符合NSF纳入标准的各种学生提供机会。目前有几名学生参与了佛罗里达-佐治亚州路易斯·斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟。

0933496DubeyThe Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design course at the University of South Florida (USF) has evolved over the past several years into an ideal course arrangement. The course, based on a 15-week semester, gives students the opportunity to work on 'real-world' problems in a structured amount of time. The time constraints imposed on the students mimic the deadlines that industries must meet. The majority of the course project ideas, in the form of problem statements, are provided by the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology, which is based at USF. The center identifies barriers of accessibility for individuals with disabilities. The Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology supplies an instructor and provides the funds to construct the prototypes. Additionally, the PI is the associate director of the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology and has close affiliations with the School of Physical Therapy, on-campus Shriners Children's Hospital, and the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital for access to the target population. A highlight of this proposal is the inclusion of the development of recreational devices for persons with disabilities. Devices or systems to enable people to return to work or enhance function at home are crucial for one's independence, however being able to enjoy leisure activities greatly improves one's quality of life and restores human dignity. Several of the project ideas are an outcome from an exciting and unique collaboration with the Theatre and Dance Program in the College of the Arts at USF. Intellectual Merit: The proposed design and development of the capstone projects will provide intellectual merit by furthering assistive and rehabilitative technologies to assist persons with disabilities to independently perform the activities of daily living. Not only will the students become knowledgeable and skilled in engineering principles, the design process, and product development, but there is great potential for any developed technologies to advance technical and scientific knowledge, via broad dissemination. Through the dance and engineering partnership an exciting, rare, and inventive opportunity is presented to incorporate the arts perspective in engineering design. The students benefit from this novel educational experience, which encourages them to design innovative devices for a dynamic and diverse problem set. This allows the students to stretch creatively and will likely have a far-reaching positive impact on their lives. Broader Impact: This class will provide a broader impact in the engineering, assistive technology and rehabilitative areas through innovative research in rehabilitation technologies implemented at the undergraduate education level. Unlike traditional senior design courses, this class encourages students to pursue careers in rehabilitation engineering due to its focus on assistive technologies. The training that these students receive through this course will strengthen their job prospects. Furthermore, through the Center the students will have direct and continual contact with professionals and people with disabilities who are potential users of the devloped devices. This contact will begin in the background gathering/brainstorming phases of project development and will continue to the prototype phase where the students will solicite feedback regarding the practical utilization of their devices. An opportunity, that is not currently available, will be provided through this grant for an undergraduate to be involved as an instructor helper. The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program will be utilized to outreach to different underrepresented educational sectors. Also, the instructors have a close working relationship with the Engineering Office of Recruitment and Retention who provide access to a variety of students fitting the NSF inclusion criteria. Several students are currently involved in The Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.