The American Student Placements in Rehabilitation Engineering Program (ASPIRE)

Abstract

Background: American Student Placements and Internships in Rehabilitation Engineering is founded on the principal of sparking the interest in a new generation of rehabilitation engineering scientists to transform the lives of older adults and people with disabilities. Each year a minimum of 10 students were enrolled.

Methods: The internship runs for 10 weeks and activities center on developing excitement about technology and engineering and understanding the principles and processes of conducting rehabilitation engineering research. This was accomplished by student participation in 1) rehabilitation engineering research projects; 2) educational research training, and 3) professional activities with clinical and engineering faculty, staff, and graduate students. Of the 162 participants, 53% were women and 47% men. 23% of participants were from minority or underrepresented groups, and 18% identified as having a disability.

Results: From post-internship follow-up efforts, 65% of program participants went on to pursue or have graduated with advanced degrees, 27% of whom are engineers from underrepresented groups. Of those students that are working post-baccalaureate, 70% are engineers working in a biomedical/technology field. In the past 3 years, 92% of students stated that the program met or exceeded their expectations, while 100% of the 2018 group felt that their expectations were met.

Conclusion: The American Student Placements and Internships in Rehabilitation Engineering program has demonstrated efficacy in preparing undergraduate students for future academic work and employment.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• Creative researchers and designers will lead the way in advancing accessibility standards and engineering for people with disabilities.

• The ASPIRE program increases excitement for and interest in the fields of rehabilitation engineering among undergraduate students to positively influence academic and professional careers.

• Students enrolled in the ASPIRE program actively participated in a real multidisciplinary project supervised by professor mentors. This led students to take a problem-based approach in their professional development.

• The ASPIRE program stimulates rehabilitation engineering in students’ mindset and promotes inclusive academic environments and communities.

• Rehabilitation engineering is not a mainstream discipline, but the ASPIRE program indicates that there are benefits to student education, including participatory action engineering, that need to continue gain momentum until rehabilitation engineering is a mainstream discipline or a core component of engineering education.

• We must move beyond a “survival of the fittest” mentality. A “survival of the fittest” model places a disproportionate burden on groups that are underrepresented in science and engineering, and thereby postpones the day on which the demographics of science and engineering are comparable to that of society as a whole.

• The ASPIRE program needs to be replicated at various institutions around the world.

Keywords:

• Rehabilitation
• education
• engineering
• disability
• undergraduate
• research

Acknowledgments

We are grateful for those who contributed to and supported this program evaluation, the ASPIRE program, and the staff at HERL for supporting this project.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no declarations of interest. The contents of this paper do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by grant no. 1560174 from the National Science Foundation (4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22230, USA).