PI: Eberhardt, Alan; Dobbs, Joel Proposal Number: 1263941
The objective of this proposal is to solicit continued NSF support for design projects to aid persons with disabilities, for undergraduate students in the School of Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). These activities target Biomedical Engineering (BME) students in Senior Design (BME 498/499), as well as general engineering freshmen, who will undertake projects to aid specific disabled individuals or groups of individuals suffering from debilitating neuromuscular conditions and injury recovery. Funding by the NSF-RAPD/GARDE program the past 14 years has led to the delivery of over 50 working prototype senior design projects to aid local clients, and cumulative training of nearly 500 undergraduate students. The current proposal seeks to continue these successes, while introducing a new Business-Engineering Alliance, in which seniors in Business will join the BME seniors to form multi-disciplinary design teams with an emphasis on commercialization of devices. The new co-PI (Dr. Dobbs) will provide mentorship from the business perspective and provide guest lectures on market analysis, business models/plans and commercialization topics. We also propose immersion of students in a manufacturing rotation where they'll gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art manufacturing of metals and plastics, quality assessment and control, and good manufacturing practices (GMP).
To date, projects were completed in partnership with United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Greater Birmingham and their affiliates, Hand-in-Hand and LINCPoint, as well as UAB Hospital, the Bell Center and the Children's Hospital of Alabama, among others. These sources will continue to provide project ideas in coming years; however, with this proposal we introduce a new collaboration with Lakeshore Foundation (Dr. Rimmer) , with an emphasis on exercise activities and monitoring for rehabilitation patients. In BME 498/499, project ideas will result from student rotations with participating clinicians and therapists, who will serve as clients. Prototypes and marketable designs will be developed by teams of upperclassmen working over two semesters. Advisory committees consisting of the PI, individual clients, and physical therapists from the partnering agencies will continue to ensure adequate student supervision for development of novel devices to assist those with disabilities. Freshman design projects (5-6 week duration) will be continued with project ideas from the PI's interaction with clients. A list of potential projects is included in the present proposal.
Intellectual Merit: The proposed activities are intellectually meritorious: clinical rotations with participating medical faculty enhance student exposure; ideation-to-invention experiential learning teaches critical thinking and integrates new knowledge with prior learning; and students gain expertise in nearly all Student Outcomes as required by ABET. The new partnership with Business will allow our students to engage in truly multi-disciplinary team-based design. Our new alignment with the Lakeshore Foundation will provide cohesive and engaging hands-on experiences solving modern rehabilitation engineering problems. The manufacturing rotation will provide needed exposure to GMP and will provide enhanced opportunities for sophisticated materials and manufacturing processes. The designs themselves are often novel and will therefore explore creative and original concepts. The fact that the designs are constructed, tested and used by disabled individuals provides meaningful design experiences for engineering students. Our previous success demonstrates sufficient access to resources, and supports the qualifications of the PI and the institution.
Broader Impacts: An important benefit is the service to the disabled community, by providing assistive devices at no-cost to the recipients, resulting in improved quality of life. Student experiences are heightened through interaction with their client, and ultimately seeing the fruits of their labor. Project stories are featured in regional news media, high school and community outreach activities, and international symposia. These activities attract regional high school students (large minority population) into math, science and engineering. The BME undergraduate program attracts a high percentage of women and minorities. The proposed efforts pilot a new entrepreneurial partnership between UAB Engineering and Business to turn biomedical devices into commercial successes that are marketed worldwide. The student teams will be encouraged pitch their start-up companies and enter a business plan competition with the Alabama Launchpad, preparing them for a new BME Master's program with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship to continue these multi-disciplinary, entrepreneurial activities.
