Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers
Introduction
The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) funds approximately twenty national Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs).
RERCs have always been an important constituency among RESNA membership. In fact, many RESNA founders, presidents and board members have had RERC affiliations. According to the NIDRR, RERCs:
- "Support activities that: (1) lead to the development of methods, procedures, and devices that will benefit individuals with disabilities, especially those with the most severe disabilities; or (2) involve technology for the purposes of enhancing opportunities for meeting the needs of and addressing the barriers confronted by individuals with disabilities in all aspects of their lives.
- [Support] the development of technological systems for persons with disabilities; stimulation of the production and distribution of equipment in the private sector; and clinical evaluations of equipment."
Nineteen RERCs currently funded by the NIDRR are listed below with a link to each center's homepage. The RERC on Technology Transfer, funded through 2009, contributed relevant publications and is also included in this list. Find RERC Publications here.
Please visit individual RERC sites to find ATS and ATD training opportunities.
RERC Listing
- Accessible Public Transportation
- Advancement of Cognitive Technologies
- Children with Orthopedic Disabilities
- Communication Enhancement
- Develop and Evaluate Technology for Low Vision, Blindness, and Multi-Sensory Loss
- Hearing Enhancement
- Prosthetics and Orthotics
- Recreational Technologies and Exercise
- Rehabilitation Robotics and Telemanipulation Machines Assisting Recovery from Stroke
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Successful Aging with Disability: Optimizing Participation Through Technology
- Technology Transfer
- Telecommunication Access
- Telerehabilitation
- Universal Design and the Built Environment
- Universal Interface and Information Technology Access
- Wheelchair Transportation Safety
- Wheeled Mobility in Everyday Life
- Wireless Technologies
- Workplace Accommodations