Problem Solvers Conference

主要研究者：Stern，Virginia W.提案编号：0943378智力优点：美国科学促进会（AAAS）科学、技术和残疾项目（教育和人力资源理事会）正在请求国家科学基金会（NSF）工程理事会的支持，以实施一个项目，“问题解决者：残疾工程师的教育和职业道路”。“该项目的长期目标是让工程界，特别是残疾工程师和工程专业学生参与促进残疾工程师进入和晋升的活动，从而增加残疾工程师在公共和私营部门劳动力以及学术界的代表性。为了实现这一目标，AAAS建议：召开一个研讨会，让不同的工程师和工程专业的学生可以分享他们在学术和专业环境中取得成功的独特方法，因为他们克服了身体，感官，沟通和态度上的障碍。收集成功的工程师所使用的策略和工具，以克服阻碍和阻止早发性或后天残疾的人进入工程专业的传统障碍开发和发布研讨会的结果和建议，从而为工程界提供特定的资源。将研讨会后的报告分发给学生、院长、教师、雇主、辅导员、家长和工程学会。这些团体在鼓励或劝阻残疾人参与工程专业方面都发挥着重要作用。这些利益相关者、守门人和开门人不仅对关心“什么有效”的残疾中学生很重要，而且对因交通事故或多发性硬化症等残疾后遗症而意外残疾的早期职业工程师也很重要。更广泛的影响：对工程领域代表性不足的群体的宣传几乎完全集中在少数民族和妇女身上。除了偶尔有一张坐在轮椅上的人的象征性照片外，旨在加强大学前和中学后学生获得工程教育和职业的途径的出版物和方案没有包括残疾学生或在职工程师。这个拟议的项目将扩大NSF的工作重点，扩大工程参与。关于残疾人的典型讲习班由一个或极少数人报告他们在教育或就业方面取得的成功。问题解决者研讨会将有一个完全不同的层面，聚集60名选定的工程师和工程专业的学生，在性别，种族，地理，目前的年龄和残疾发病年龄，工程领域和就业部门的不同。正如讲习班的标题所示，残疾工程师专注于解决他们职业生活和个人生活中的问题。作为残疾人，每个参与者都制定了自己独特的方法来克服残疾带来的障碍或限制。这些见解将增加正在进行的通用设计研究;它也可以有助于现有辅助技术的适应，以适应特定工程领域，工作要求或个人需求的尺寸。

PI: Stern, Virginia W.Proposal Number: 0943378Intellectual Merit: The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project on Science, Technology, and Disability (Directorate for Education and Human Resources) is requesting support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering to implement a project, 'The Problems Solvers: Education and Career Paths of Engineers with Disabilities.' The long-term goal of this project is to engage the engineering community, particularly engineers and engineering students with disabilities, in activities that will facilitate the entry and advancement of engineers with disabilities and thus increase the representation of engineers with disabilities in public and private sector workforce as well as in academia. To achieve this goal, AAAS is proposing to: Convene a workshop where a diverse group of engineers and engineering students can share their unique approaches to succeeding in academic and professional environments as they overcome physical, sensory, communication, and attitudinal roadblocks. Collect the strategies and tools used by successful engineers to navigate the traditional barriers that discourage and prevent individuals with early onset or acquired disabilities to enter the engineering profession Develop and publish workshop findings and recommendations, thus providing a resource specific to the engineering community. Disseminate the post-workshop report to students, deans, faculty, employers, counselors, parents, and engineering societies. Each of these groups has an important role to play in encouraging or discouraging a person with a disability to participate in the engineering profession. These stakeholders, gatekeepers, and gate-openers are significant not only for the middle or high school student with a disability who cares about 'what works,' but also for the early career engineer who becomes adventitiously disabled from a road accident or sequelae of a disability like multiple sclerosis. Broader Impacts: Outreach to underrepresented groups in engineering has focused almost exclusively on minorities and women. Except for an occasional token photograph of a person in a wheelchair, publications and programs designed to strengthen the pathway to engineering education and careers for precollege and postsecondary students have not included students or working engineers with disabilities. This proposed project will expand the work of the NSF focus on broadening participation in engineering. The typical workshop on persons with disabilities presents one or very few individuals reporting on their success in education or employment. The Problem Solvers Workshop will have a completely different dimension, assembling 60 selected engineers and engineering students, diverse in gender, ethnicity, geography, current age and age of onset of disability, field of engineering, and sector of employment. As the title of the Workshop suggests, engineers with disabilities focus on problem solving in their professional lives and also in their personal lives. As individuals with disabilities, each participant has developed his or her unique approach to overcoming barriers or the limitations presented by their disability. These insights will add to ongoing research on universal design; it can also contribute to adaptations of existing assistive technology to fit the dimensions of the specific engineering field, job requirements, or individual needs.