Quality of Life Technology Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

参加QoLT REU计划的学生将在横向思维，对齐设计和跨学科问题解决方面获得具体经验，这将磨练他们在整个研究生涯中以原则性方式追求系统级解决方案的能力。学生将根据QoLT ERC中正在进行的和/或试点研究分配一个项目。与目前大多数机器人技术的工作不同，其目标是取代人类劳动，QoLT研究的中心主题是开发与人类一起工作的智能系统，并且是安全的，对人有感知的，对环境有感知的。所有QoLT研究项目都具有系统范围背景的好处，利益相关者代表多个学科，组织（例如，用户）和最终用户。REU项目将强调和教授渐进式行动设计（PAD），这是一个识别，翻译和整合上下文约束到QoLT系统的概念和开发中的过程，并有不同的利益相关者参与。REU的学生将在项目开发过程中学习PAD，因为他们将自己作为工程师的身份整合到完整的设计和分析周期中。QoLT REU项目将包括大量的研究组成部分，并可能导致新的发现，这些发现可以在同行评审的论文集和期刊上发表。非技术摘要QoLT ERC的愿景是通过智能设备和系统改变因衰老或残疾而功能降低的人的生活。QoLT ERC是CMU和Pitt之间的独特合作伙伴关系，整合了CMU在智能系统设计，实施和技术转让方面的优势，以及Pitt在健康科学和老龄化研究方面的优势。QoLT REU计划的主要目标是将学生从独立思考者转变为独立思考者，让他们有成就感并接触潜在的最终用户，并提供真正适合正在进行的ERC项目的项目经验。该计划建立在先前资助的QoLT REU网站的成功基础上，重点是招募STEM中的弱势学生（少数民族，残疾学生和研究机会有限的学校的学生），并为他们提供全面的培训体验。预计学生将离开该计划与兴奋感有关的技术和工程，批判性思维，并进行QoLT研究的过程的深刻理解。学生将成为项目的积极参与者和创新者，这些项目旨在通过系统级工程努力解决现实世界的问题。学生将横向思考和设计真实的系统，使在智力和情感上强大的方式的差异，这是QoLT上下文的独特优势。更广泛的影响QoLT REU网站近在咫尺，因为QoLT有一个社会目标，是明确编织到广泛的影响本身的概念：如何利用技术对老年人和残疾人的生活产生积极的社会变化？QoLT REU学生将进行对人们生活有直接影响的领先研究。一个年轻的未来工程师在她早期的训练中从这样的经历中获得的价值感的价值怎么强调都不过分。来自不同背景的学生将把他们的研究经验与计划的课程相结合，致力于研究，设计和整合方法。

Technical SummaryStudents participating in the QoLT REU program will have a concrete experience in lateral thinking, aligned design and interdisciplinary problem-solving that will hone their ability to pursue systmes-level solutions in a principled manner throughout their research career. The students will be assigned a project based on ongoing and/ or pilot research in the QoLT ERC. Unlike most current work in robotics, with its goal to replace human labor, the central theme of QoLT research is to develop intelligent systems that work with people and are safe, person-aware, and environment-aware. All QoLT research projects have the benefit of systems-wide context, with stakeholders representing multiple academic disciplines, organizations (e.g., caregiving groups), and end users. The REU projects will emphasize and teach Participatory Action Design (PAD), a process of identifying, translating, and integrating contextual constraints into the conception and development of QoLT systems with the involvement of diverse stakeholders. The REU students will learn PAD during project development, as they integrate their identities as engineers into the context of the complete design and analysis cycle. QoLT REU projects will include substantial research components and will likely lead to new findings, which can be published in peer-reviewed proceedings and journals.Non-Technical SummaryThe vision of the QoLT ERC is to transform the lives of people with reduced functional capabilities due to aging or disability through intelligent devices and systems. The QoLT ERC is a unique partnership between CMU and Pitt, integrating CMU's strength in the design, implementation, and technology transfer of intelligent systems, and Pitt's strength in health sciences and aging research. The primary objectives of the QoLT REU program are to transform students from dependent to independent thinkers, give them a sense of accomplishment and exposure to potential end-users, and provide experience on a project that has a genuine fit to an ongoing ERC project. The program builds on the successes of the previously funded QoLT REU Site in that it places an emphasis on recruiting disadvantaged students in STEM (racial minorities, students with disabilities, and students from schools with limited research opportunities) and provide them with a comprehensive training experience. Students are expected to leave the program with a sense of excitement about technology and engineering, a critical mindset, and a deep understanding of the process of conducting QoLT research. Students will be active participants and innovators in projects designed to address real-world problems with systems-level engineering efforts. The students will think laterally and design real systems that make a difference in an intellectually and emotionally powerful way, and this is the unique strength of the QoLT context.The broader impacts of the QoLT REU Site are close at hand because QoLT has a societal goal that is explicitly woven into the concept of broad impact itself: how can technology be used to effect positive social change in the lives of the elderly and in the lives of persons with disabilities? QoLT REU students will conduct leading research that has direct effects on peoples' lives. The value of the sense of worth that a young engineer-to-be obtains from such an experience early in her training cannot be overstated. Coming from diverse backgrounds, students will integrate their research experiences with planned curriculum devoted to research, design, and integration methodology.