Rehabilitation Engineering

Catalog description

Rehabilitation engineering is the systematic application of engineering sciences to design, develop, adapt, test, evaluate, apply, and distribute technological solutions to problems confronted by individuals with disabilities. This course focuses on assistive technologies - technologies designed for use in the everyday lives of people with disabilities to assist in the performance of activities of daily living. The course surveys assistive technologies designed for a variety of functional limitations - including mobility, communication, hearing, vision, and cognition - as they apply to activities associated with employment, independent living, education, and integration into the community. This course considers not only technical issues in device development, but also the psychosocial factors and market forces that influence device acceptance by individuals and the marketplace. The class is designed for graduate students and upper undergraduates.