WORKSHOP: Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America Student Design Challenge 2019

这笔资金将部分支持本科生设计大赛(SDC)，该大赛将成为6月24-28日举行的2019年RESNA会议的一部分。今天，美国有超过7000万人报告有不同程度的残疾，这个数字可能会在未来几年随着所谓的“婴儿潮一代”年龄的增长而增加。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的成员包括一系列学科的个人和机构(包括在非营利性和营利性环境中工作的研究人员、临床医生、供应商、制造商、消费者和教育工作者)，他们都致力于促进辅助技术进步的思想和信息交流。一年一度的RESNA会议和学生设计大赛结合在一起，为经验丰富的康复工程师和即将进入该领域的学生之间的互动创造了一个论坛。这一活动的独特之处在于，它主要面向本科生，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，并为学生提供机会与他们的同龄人以及以前的社区发展中心的参与者建立联系，这些参与者中的许多人现在是与残疾人士的技术相关的服务、研究和教育的领导者。所有参与者(不只是最终入围者)都会创建博客帖子来捕获和存档他们提交的内容，这些内容仍然可以通过RESNA网站和Wiki的辅助技术无限期访问。因此，教育工作者可以将这些信息作为其他人所做项目的范例与他们的学生分享，而服务提供者和残疾人可以寻找独特的解决方案来解决他们可能面临的障碍。一年一度的RESNA学生设计竞赛(工作坊)促进创新和创造力，最终目标是生产有助于残疾人独立的技术。第一届SDC于1980年举行，作为首届RESNA会议的一部分；自那时以来，从来自125多所不同大学和高等教育机构的学生提交的850多件作品中，已有265件以上的设计被确定为获奖作品。本科生和硕士研究生候选人都有资格提交参赛作品，参赛作品只能代表学生的作品；任何教职员工或专业人员都不能被列为共同作者，尽管教职员工可能被称为顾问和/或导师。今年的拨款将使SDC进一步扩大和加强，以便包括更多的参赛作品和支持更多的设计团队，特别是来自少数族裔、妇女和残疾人士的设计团队。大会网站上已经发布了参会邀请，并以电子方式分发给了大量设有工程和设计学院的学院和大学。所有提交材料的内容，而不仅仅是最终入围者，都将被捕获并通过RESNA SDC网站访问。五名精通行业的评委将审查提交的作品，并选出至少7支半决赛队伍，其中两名代表将被邀请参加会议，并展示他们的工作原型，以确定最终入围者。各参赛队将于6月24日向评审团作10分钟的陈述，对所有感兴趣的人开放，参赛队将与评委、其他参赛队成员和所有出席评审团的人进行互动。会议日程包括一个平台环节，入围者可以在那里向大会观众展示他们的设计。此外，入围者将有机会在开发者展示会上展示他们的项目，该展示会突出显示正在开发的新产品(一些过去的SDC学生团队设计已获得专利，现已投入商业使用)。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 2019 RESNA conference to be held June 24-28. 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 with participants in previous SDCs, many of whom are now leaders in service, research, and education related to technology for persons with disabilities. All participants (not just the finalists) create blog posts that capture and archive their submissions, which remain accessible indefinitely through the RESNA website and the assistive technology AT Wiki. Thus, educators can share this information with their students as examples of projects that others have done, while service providers and persons with disabilities can search for unique solutions to barriers they may face. The annual RESNA Student Design Competition (workshop) 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. The content of all submissions, not merely the finalists, will be captured and accessed through the RESNA SDC website. Five industry-savvy judges will review the submissions and select at least 7 semi-finalist teams from which two representatives will be invited to attend the conference and present their working prototypes to determine the finalists. The teams will give 10-minute presentations to the judging panel on June 24 in a session open to all who are interested and in which the teams will interact with the judges, members of other teams and all who attend the session. The conference schedule includes a platform session where the finalists can present their designs to the general conference audience. In addition, finalists will have an opportunity to present their projects during the Developers' Showcase, 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.