Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering Research

Research and development is only meaningful if it gets into the hands of people who will use it to:

• make better decisions,
• improve available products,
• implement better policies and
• develop better programs and services.

We'd like to use these pages to increase awareness about completed research, research in progress and the areas where research is still needed.

• National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research
• Research Studies
• Research Funding
• Rehabilitation Research Sites
• Resources for Researchers

National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research

The National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR) in Austin, Texas was developed to help with the important job of disseminating research funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).

NIDRR funds these large categories of disability and research projects:

• Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs)
• Knowledge Dissemination and Utilization Programs
• Small Business Innovative Research (SBIRs)
• State Technology Act Assistance Projects
• ADA Technical Assistance Programs

Research Studies

• Be a participant in research studies!
• Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Wheeled Mobility - the reports from current and previous research tasks.
• Human Engineering Research Laboratories ( HERL)
• StakeHolders Forum (May 25-26, 1999), Pittsburgh, PA - a joint project of the RERCs on Technology Transfer and Wheeled Mobility.
• The Veterans Administration Research and Development
• International Wheelchair Research
• Pediatric Powered Mobility - a research project coordinated by Rancho los Amigos on the effect of power mobility on child development.

Research Funding

• NIDRR - The National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
• The Federal Register
• The Foundation Center
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• National Science Foundation
• National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research
• Paralyzed Veterans of America - Spinal Cord Research Foundation
• Paralyzed Veterans of America - Spinal Cord Injury Education and Training Foundation
• ScienceWise - alerts about opportunities in science and engineering
• Veterans Administration R&D - Information for Researchers: RFPs, proposal guidelines, eligibility, etc.,

Rehabilitation Engineering Research Sites

• Bloorview McMillan Centre - Ontario, CA
• Center for Rehabilitation Technology - Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
• Certec - University of Lund, Sweden
• Community Rehabilitation Studies - University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• Ecole Polytechique Montreal.- NSERC Industrial Chair on Wheelchair Seating and Positioning
• Kessler Medical Rehabilitation Research and Education Corporation, New Jersey
• KISS Institute for Practical Robotics and the TinMan Wheelchair Robot
• Nokaidai Polytechnic University - Department of Rehabilitation Engineering
• Ontario Rehabilitation Technology Consortium - University of Toronto, CA
• Rancho Rehabilitation Engineering Program - Downey, CA
• Stanford University - Rehabilitation R&D Center Rehabilitation Science Projects
• University of Alberta - Biomedical Engineering
• University of Michigan - Biomedical Engineering at Ann Arbor, MI
• University of Pennsylvania (GRASP Lab) - development of a protype all terrain wheelchair.
• University of Pittsburgh - RERC I (1993-98) on Wheeled Mobility
• University of Pittsburgh - RERC II (1999-2003) on Wheeled Mobility
• University of Pittsburgh HERL - Human Engineering Research Laboratory
• University of Rochester Computer Science - Mobile Robotics
• Wright State University - Biomedical and Human Factors Engineering.
• CRERO - Coalition of Rehabilitation Engineering Research Organizations

Resources for Researchers and Students

• Assistive Technology Outcomes Website
• American Psychological Association - How to format an Electronic Reference
• BioMedNet - the Internet community for biological and medical researchers.
• Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine
• CRERO - Coalition of Rehabilitation Engineering Research
• Effective Presentations - from Kansas University Medical Center.
• Metacrawler - an excellent search engine.
• Introduction to Medline: PubMed, MEDLINE Gateway and MEDLINEplus.
• National Center for Health Statistics
• PhDs. Org - a resource for graduate students in Science, Math, and Engineering
• The Statistics Homepage
• Wheelchair and Seating Standards - ANSI/RESNA, SAE and ISO

Back to Wheelchair University

Last Updated: 3-2-2006