The purpose of the RERC program is to improve the effectiveness of services authorized under the Rehabilitation Act by conducting advanced engineering research on and development of innovative technologies that are designed to solve particular rehabilitation problems or to remove environmental barriers.
Donor Name: Administration for Community Living
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/22/2023
Size of the Grant: $925,000
Duration: 60 months
Details:
RERCs also demonstrate and evaluate such technologies, facilitate service delivery system changes, stimulate the production and distribution of new technologies and equipment in the private sector, and provide training opportunities. The purpose of this particular RERC is to conduct research, development, and related activities toward advances in prosthetics and orthotics technologies that improve health and function, employment, or community living outcomes among people with limb loss or impaired limb function.
Priority
The Administrator of the Administration for Community Living (ACL) establishes a priority for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on Prosthetics and Orthotics. Under this priority, the RERC must research, develop, and evaluate innovative technologies that will result in new or improved prosthetic and orthotic (P&O) products, devices, and technological advances that contribute to improved outcomes for people with limb loss or limb difference in community or home settings. Under this priority, the RERC must increase the understanding of the scientific and engineering principles pertaining to human locomotion, reaching, grasping, and manipulation, and incorporate those principles into the design and fitting of prosthetic and orthotic devices. Research and development under this priority must be designed to lead to state-of-the-science knowledge, evidence-based P&O rehabilitation, and P&O devices that enable individuals with limb loss and impaired limb function to perform activities of daily living, participate in sports and leisure activities, and improve their health and employment outcomes. The RERC must enhance the usability and effectiveness of currently available and new and emerging P&O devices and technologies to align with users’ goals, needs, and abilities. The RERC must be designed to improve outcomes of people with limb loss or limb difference in one or more of the following outcome domains: community living and participation, employment, or health and function.
Research and development topics under this priority are limited to prosthetics and orthotics. These topics may include but are not limited to: (a) research and development toward appropriate socket-sensing technologies to detect residual limb volume, pressure, temperature, and moisture within the socket-limb interface environment; or (b) research and development toward P&O devices for use in specific sport or leisure activities, aligned with users’ goals, needs, and abilities.
Applicants under the priority in this notice are required to specify in their proposal the following:
- The NIDILRR outcome domain or domains to be addressed.
- The target population or populations of people with limb loss or limb difference.
- The technological devices to be produced.
- The benefits of those devices to people with limb loss or and limb difference.
- The means of testing and evaluating the devices to be produced.
- The way that people with limb loss or limb difference will be included as part of proposed research and development teams, and the way that their input will be incorporated into research and development activities.
Funding Information
- Award Ceiling: $925,000 Per Budget Period
- Award Floor: $920,000 Per Budget Period
- Length of Project Period: 60-month project period with five 12-month budget periods
Eligibility Criteria
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Special district governments
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- State governments
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- County governments
- City or township governments
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Small businesses
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
