This is funding to support the Student Design Competition (SDC), which will be part of the 2010 annual RESNA conference to be held June 26-30 in Las Vegas. Today, between 40 and 56 million people in the United States report some type of disability, and this number will likely grow in the coming years as the baby boom generation enters late life. RESNA (formerly the Rehabilitation Engineering 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 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. In addition to its annual conference, RESNA conducts a credentialing program for assistive technology practitioners, rehabilitation engineering technologists and suppliers, as well as sponsored projects. RESNA's Technical Standards Board is the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ANSI, the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), for the development of ISO standards pertaining to assistive technology and other products for persons with disabilities.
The RESNA Student Design Competition 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 200 designs have been identified as winning entries, chosen from more than 600 submissions by students from over 115 different universities. SDC entries are required to represent the work of students ONLY, including the design documentation; both undergraduates and graduates are eligible to take part. Many past participants in the event are now leaders in service, research, and educational areas related to technology for people with disabilities. Some past student designs have been patented and are now available commercially. NSF has been a supporter since 2005. 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. A team of 5 judges will pre-select entries from up to 10 teams, from which two members each will be invited to attend the conference supported with travel and hotel funds as well as complimentary registration. During a half-day session in which the teams will make presentations before the judges and public audience at the conference, 5 teams will ultimately be selected as the final winners. Judges will have an opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions and recommendations to the design teams. A platform session will be held in which the 5 finalists will make presentations to the general conference attendees. All SDC teams invited to the conference will have an opportunity to present their projects in a poster session during the general conference time. More information is available online at www.resna.org/conference.
Broader Impacts: The annual RESNA Conference and the Student Design Competition combine to create a forum for interaction between working and 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 further encourages and mentors students in various disciplines to become involved in the assistive technology and rehabilitation engineering fields, and also provides an opportunity for the students to network with their peers and rehabilitation engineers, many of whom participated in previous SDC competitions. In an effort to increase the diversity of submissions to the SDC in future years, this year's participants will build web pages to illustrate their design and design process. Not only will young scientists benefit from this medium of dissemination but professors and those who teach will also be able to share this information with their students as examples of projects that others have done. The content of all submissions, not just the finalists, will be captured and accessed through the RESNA website. The information will be searchable through the National Public Internet Site on assistivetech.net and the ATWiki. Use of an existing national search engine will allow professors to use design information in their course work, while allowing service providers and people with disabilities to search for unique solutions to barriers they may face.
RESNA Student Design Competition Outcomes Summary As a result of the generous support from NSF, RESNA was able to provide a total of 10 students from 5 teams with travel accommodations including hotel to attend the 2010 Annual RESNA Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. The SDC’s impact was expanded to reach well outside the domain of the conference in 2010. In addition to a formal submission through manuscript handling software, students designed rich-media web pages that represented their work. These web pages were incorporated into a blog site developed in collaboration with the AAC-RERC and Pennsylvania State University. Through the use of blogging tools, all submissions are cataloged and permanently available to advancing students, as well as professionals in the AT and rehabilitation industry. The site received approximately 6600 visits since its inception (June – December 2010). Future competitions will submit directly to this site, making it a permanent collected work of the RESNA SDC. In addition, this type of media is very popular with students. It is easy for them to access and available where-ever web access is available. Development of the blog site should increase participation in future conferences. To view all the SDC web submissions, please visit: http://aac-rerc.psu.edu/wordpressmu/RESNA-SDC/resna/ The 5 teams presented their designs during the general conference as one of the Platform sessions. All teams were recognized during the RESNA Awards Ceremony and presented with Certificates for their SDC participation. A free student membership was provided by RESNA to each student. Submissions were on topics as described in Table 1. These topic categories approximately mirror the Special Interest Group structure within RESNA. Table 1: Topic Distribution of 2010 SDC competition Submissions Topic % of submissions Computer Applications and Communication 16% Cognitive and Sensory Impairment Technologies 8% Job and Environmental Accommodation 32% Wheelchair Seating Technologies 20% Wheeled Mobility Technologies 12% Other 12% The 5 teams exhibited their designs during the official opening of the Exhibit Hall and also as part of the Poster Session presentations. This provided an opportunity for over 600 attendees to view in-depth the designs and to engage in a dialogue with SDC members. The student papers were also included in the 2010 Conference Proceedings which can be found on the RESNA website. One goal of the RESNA Student Design Competition is to encourage all students, including minority students, towards science-based fields, particularly in rehabilitation and assistive technologies. The finalist teams were represented by 21 individuals. The demographics of the group reflect our goal. Almost half of the group represented a racial minority with 38% Asian/Pacific Island descent, 5% African descent, and 5% Hispanic descent. Further, 24% were women. Broader Impact of SDC The RESNA/NSF Student Design Competition is designed to build on efforts of RESNA to inspire students to work on design projects that will enhance the independence of individuals with disabilities. As a result of its Student Design Competition, RESNA has been in continued discussions with JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society) to partner on their National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC) student competition. JETS provides programs and resources that let students explore, assess, and experience engineering first-hand. From student competitions to assessment tools and career exploration materials, JETS helps students plan for rewarding futures by showing them how engineering can help them pursue their dreams. The NEDC competition is designed to recognize inventions that assist people with disabilities in the workplace. For the past four years, RESNA has participated in the JETS Design Competition by providing an award for the "best design incorporating rehabilitation engineering design practices." In the future, there may be a consolidation of these two events to build a more robust and expansive student design competition as well as exploring other collaborations. The development of the RESNA SDC blog page should encourage students to participate in science-based activities on a year-round basis. Rich-media web pages and social media blogs are highly popular with students. There constant availability makes them an ideal means to promote content, providing the students with body of work that they can seek to emulate.
