Research Centers

Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) for Technologies for Successful Aging with Disability

alttext

The overarching objective of this RERC is to Optimize Participation Through Technology (OPTT). OPTT-RERC will enhance the lives of individuals aging with and into disability through: a) development and delivery of cutting-edge technologies for identification, evaluation, and rehabilitation of motor processes that facilitate or impede functional performance, employment, and community participation for the intended beneficiaries, b) employment of state of the art data management, dissemination, and performance evaluation techniques to ensure that the knowledge and products emergent from the RERC are accessible for all intended beneficiaries, c) assembly of a multidisciplinary team of experts in clinical rehabilitation, engineering, gerontology, along with a select group of technology partners, and disability advocates to ensure that OPTT-RERC’s short and long-term outcome goals are successfully implemented and, d) alignment of the clinical and technological strengths of several area programs into an integrated infrastructure to provide training opportunities for future rehabilitation researchers.

Universal Design (UD) is an approach to design that increases the potential for developing a better quality of life for a wide range of individuals. It is a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation (Steinfeld and Maisel, 2012). It creates products, systems, and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation.