This award for an REU Site at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) will engage undergraduate students who have career interests in engineering in exciting and challenging research experiences on computer integrated surgical (CIS) systems. These new surgical systems have the potential to reduce surgery and recovery time, reduce surgical errors, reduce patient suffering, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and most importantly, improve patient outcomes. Each student will be a part of a collegial research team, including a faculty project supervisor and a graduate student mentor. Participants will receive instruction on technical communication, oral presentation skills, and research ethics to aid in the completion of the required final research report and presentation.
Additional activities will include tours and trips to all Engineering Research Center (ERC) labs at Johns Hopkins, the opportunity to perform laparoscopic procedures at the JH Hospital Minimally Invasive Surgical Training Center, and industry tours to the JH Applied Physics Lab and local engineering industry companies.
Students from institutions nationwide, with a focus on women and underrepresented minorities and from a wide range of engineering disciplines including electrical, mechanical, biomedical, computer science, and physics will be recruited to participate in the program. This program will contribute to the development of new systems and methods enhancing the ability of surgeons to plan and execute minimally invasive surgical procedures, thus addressing a vital national need to improve the delivery of healthcare.
