REU Site: Engineering and Computing in Rehabilitation and Assisitve Technologies

克利夫兰州立大学的本科生研究经验（REU）现场计划，康复和辅助技术工程和计算（ECRAT），提供了康复研究的沉浸式体验，这将有助于激励和准备多元化的学生群体，以追求康复工程和辅助技术的职业生涯。由于人口老龄化和医学的进步延长了慢性病患者的寿命（例如，糖尿病）和创伤性事故的受害者（例如，车祸）。尽管国家需要康复技术，但许多学生进入康复工程领域的机会有限，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，该项目的总体目标是：1）让一组不同的工程和计算机科学本科生沉浸在开发技术的挑战中，以恢复四肢活动能力有限的人的日常功能。2)激励学生追求康复和辅助技术的未来机会。3)使学生能够在康复和辅助技术的职业生涯中取得成功。 在三年的时间里，ECRAT计划将吸引本科生参加为期10周的密集，原创和创造性的实践夏季研究和专业发展/培训体验，围绕围绕REU学生与他们的同龄人，他们的导师，医疗专业人士和残疾人的综合学习社区。该项目的成果将是一个多元化的学生群体的动机，并准备追求职业生涯中的康复和辅助技术和结构化的方案，使学生沉浸在康复研究，可以在全国范围内传播。

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.