Students at Arizona State University (ASU) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) will begin awarding up to 30 doctoral students fellowships to pursue studies and work experience in multiple fields from technology development to public policy-making that contributes to bettering the lives of people with disabilities.
The fellowship program will bring 20 faculty and staff that will co-advise and mentor the doctoral fellow students as part of the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program. Diverse in backgrounds of students, research and education, the group of 20 have many ideas to bring the table when it comes to helping those with disabilities.
Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, an ASU professor of computer science and engineering, will lead the new IGERT-funded program and said that the initiative is a testament to the possibilities of the two programs working together.
“Receiving IGERT grants for this kind of endeavor is a testament to the strengths of both ASU and CLUSB across a broad spectrum of disciplines,” Panchanathan said.
The IGERT program will follow an education-research-practice model for training students across a wide range of disciplines. According to ASU news, the idea is to meld expertise in computer science and engineering, bioengineering, mechanical engineering, science education, science and public policy, psychology, and industrial design.
The official name of the grant funded program is the Alliance for Person-Centered Accessible Technologies or APAcT for short. Not only does the program aim to better the lives of those with disabilities, it seeks to educate its fellows so they have a deeper understanding of the world in which those with disabilities live.
For example, the fellows will take a semester course at the other institution in order to experience another academic culture and build relationships with other IGERT faculty and trainees. The fellows will have the opportunity to obtain industry internships, learn through community service and experience interdisciplinary research.
Trainees will also receive an education of laws and ethics when it comes to assisting people with disabilities, giving them a wider breadth of understanding and knowledge about the individuals they will serve.
The NSF expects that in the future the expertise of students trained in the program will have a significant impact on the lives of a large segment of the country’s population – including injured military veterans, the elderly, children with learning and development disabilities, individuals with autism and those with visual disabilities, among others.
“IGERT fellows will develop the ability to view technologies and their areas of expertise in ways that can serve the needs of all community members,” says Jay Klein, the program’s project director.
