BIO Medical Engineering ABET Accreditaiton

NIH C06: SPECIALIZED TECHNOLOGICAL CENTER FOR ASSISTIVE REHABILITATION RESEARCH (STAR)

Through our National Institutes of Health (NIH) C06 grant, a Specialized Technological Center for Assistive Rehabilitation Research (STAR), will position UDC to serve as a national hub, beacon, and gold-standard, “STAR” facility for rehabilitation-related research focused on aging and impaired populations.

MISSION

The new, upcoming STAR Center will create an environment that fosters research-driven specialized technological services focused on biomechanical and rehabilitation engineering-related research, a critical need. The STAR Center will bring together students, researchers, faculty and staff within UDC but also the surrounding consortium of universities, institutes, and hospitals. A goal of the Center is to serve, determine solutions, and obtain new scientific knowledge on a wide array of populations including aging individuals, veterans, amputees, survivors of stroke, Parkinson’s patients, and other impaired and unimpaired populations.

HISTORY

A biomechanical and rehabilitation engineering research Center, consisting of multiple biomedical engineering research laboratories with large scale state-of-the-art fixed-equipment, was first conceived and conceptualized by Dr. Lara Thompson in 2018. This new facility is being designed and constructed via awarded NIH C06 funds granted to UDC in Fall 2020. Funds are being used to expand, renovate, and equip new multi-researcher biomedical research laboratories focused on: a) Gait & Balance; b) Assistive Robotics for Rehabilitation; c) Biomechanics; d) Virtual Reality Rehabilitation.

Gait & Balance -In fall-prone elderly, survivors of stroke, Parkinson’s patients, veterans & amputees -In un-impaired individuals (such as athletes)	Biomechanics -Imaging-related research (tied to injury-biomechanics) -Materials-related research tied to implantable devices, orthopedics, and biomaterials
Assistive Robotics for Rehabilitation -Fall-prone elderly, survivors of stroke, veterans & amputees (assistive robotics for gait & balance) -For amputees or paralyzed individuals (brain-to-machine interface using EEG and robotics) -Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans & teaching children with autism (utilizing robotics for behavioral/psychology-related studies)	Virtual Reality Rehabilitation -Fall-prone elderly, survivors of stroke, veterans & amputees (locomotion, sensorimotor integration) -Older individuals & survivors of stroke -People with disabilities (e.g., autism) -Veterans (e.g., with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI)