Indianapolis, Indiana
June 15, 2014
June 15, 2014
June 18, 2014
2153-5965
Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies
NSF Grantees Poster Session
7
24.1027.1 - 24.1027.7
10.18260/1-2--22960
https://peer.asee.org/22960
337
Mahender Mandala received a B.Engg. in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University at Hyderabad, India (2008), M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kansas at Lawrence, KS (2011) and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA) studying Rehabilitation Science and Technology.
His primary interest lies in the fields of Product Design, Design Education and Statistics.
Mary Goldberg, MEd received her bachelors degree in Psychology & Spanish and a Masters of Education in Administrative and Policy Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. She has been the Lead Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology and Human Engineering Research Laboratories since 2007, where she has served as Co-PI on four training programs in the field of assistive technology for undergraduates, veterans, and Masters students. She is dually involved with the Research Experience for Undergraduates and Teachers programs, in addition to other education initiatives at the Quality of Life Technology Center, all funded by National Science Foundation. Ms. Goldberg is pursuing her PhD in Administrative and Policy Studies of Education with an expected completion of fall 2013 focusing on measuring the effectiveness of online training related to assistive technology.
Jon Pearlman, PhD, received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University with a focus in Biomechanics and his PhD in Rehabilitation Science and Technology at the University of Pittsburgh. His research centers on Assistive Technology Product development and quality control. Related to these topics, Dr. Pearlman has several assistive technology design and development projects which are funded through the VA and the University of Pittsburgh; many of these projects are in collaboration with clinician and commercialization partners to ensure they are clinically relevant and are commercially available. To support quality control of assistive technologies, Dr. Pearlman sits on the ISO and ANSI/RESNA standards committees for the Wheelchair testing, and provides technical advice to the VA’s prosthetic purchasing committee.
Our REV/T program builds on the accomplishments of our RET program that has resulted in patents, invention disclosures, and journal publications. Additionally, when developing our REV/T initiative, we drew from the success of ELeVATE (NSF-‐funded Experiential Learning for Veterans in Assistive Technology and Engineering), our college transition program for Veterans with disabilities (VwD). Both programs focus on engaging our target populations, STEM teachers from economically and racially diverse school districts and VwD, in our Quality of Life Technology (QoLT) research and development efforts. Prior to the installation of the REV/T however, we had not combined the efforts of the two programs to develop a cohort where VwD interact with teachers to impact not only their personal experiences in the program, but also those of their students moving forward. In addition to our core participants, hundreds of traditionally underrepresented high school students become heavily engaged in multi-‐month engineering experiences during the academic year. The success of our approach involves a seamless transition between summer research and academic year teaching via a common product innovation focus. Similarly, ELeVATE participants gain continuity in their college transition process by engaging in research projects and mentored relationships through the academic year. The pairing of the ELeVATE with RET participants has resulted in an additional link that supports the VwD through their academic transition, and conversely, the VwD assists the teachers in classroom implementation of new curricular units. Four VwD were paired with 2 teams of teachers through the whole RET cycle (research experience, product innovation course, curricular development & implementation). The program also serves as a fruitful mechanism to promote mentoring of multiple levels (teachers, high school students, veteran students) among our graduate students in the Quality of Life Technology Center.
Mandala, M., & Goldberg, M. R., & Pearlman, J. (2014, June), Quality of Life Technology Research Experience for Veterans/Teachers Program Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--22960
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