News
Awards
COPD Get With It Program: An Exercise Intervention to Reduce Hospital Readmissions.
Dr. S. Bickel is the Co-Investigator on a two year grant, “COPD get with it program: an exercise intervention to reduce hospital readmissions,” funded by the UAB Health Services Foundation General Endowment Fund. The goal of this project is to provide neuromuscular electrical stimulation during and after a two week hospitalization followed by remote pulmonary rehabilitation using currently available technologies to monitor all participants.
Dr. Rimmer Named Expert Panel Member on 2 Committees
(1) Dr. Rimmer, PI of RecTech is serving as an expert panel member on the National Academy of Sciences, Physical Activity and Obesity Committee, 2015.
(2) Dr. Rimmer, PI of RecTech is serving as an expert panel member on the national Physical Activity Plan, Cultural Diversity Committee, 2015.
Dr. Rimmer Named to President’s Council
Dr.Rimmer, PI of RecTech has been named to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Science Board. He is the first researcher with a focus on the fitness of people with disabilities to be named to the prestigious post.
Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) Excellence in Research Writing Award
Dr. James Rimmer, P.I. of RecTech received the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) Excellence in Research Writing Award for the article titled: “Telehealth Weight Management Intervention for Adults with Physical Disabilities: A Randomized controlled Trial.”
UAB Capstone Project Wins 2014 da Vinci Awards
Two projects from the UAB BME Capstone Design course are among 15 finalists for the 2014 da Vinci Awards, including the Cost Effective Home Wheelchair Scale, developed in collaboration with RecTech and the UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative.
Update: One of the teams nominated have won The Student of da Vinci Award. Visit http://www.davinciawards.org/about/winners/?year=2014 to learn more.
Inaugural UAB Center for Exercise Medicine Symposium
Rectech student, Susan Silverman presented a poster titled “Development of a functional electrical stimulation (FES) – assisted rowing machine for adults with complete spinal cord injury“ at the inaugural UAB Center for Exercise Medicine Symposium. Susan won a cash award as one of the top three student presentors.
Student Intern, Michelle Hoogwout, Receives Honorable Mention for Paper at RESNA 2013
Student intern Michelle Hoogwout, working with Peter Axelson at Beneficial Designs, received a honorable mention at RESNA for her paper titled “Repeatability of a procedure for measuring color contrast on products, including fitness equipment.” For more information, click here and check out our blog post to learn more about color contrast.
Dr. Rimmer Receives 2014 Excellence in Scholarship Award
Dr. Rimmer received the 2014 Excellence in Scholarship Award in the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The award is awarded to faculty that have made significant scholarly contributions resulting in the advancement of knowledge. For more information on the award, click here.
News Release
RERC RecTech team members, Dr. Beth Barstow, Ms. Padalabalanarayanan, and Dr. Schnorbus Stephens (Beneficial Design) presented at the U.S. Access Board virtual meeting on Inclusive Exercise and Fitness Equipment. July 15, 2021
Dr. Thirumalai earn Faculty Innovator of the Year honor. Nov 2nd, 2020. Click here to read.
Dr. Thirumalai awarded $1.5 million grant for AI-assisted telehealth platform for people with disabilities. Oct, 20, 2020. Click here to read more.
Dr.Thirumalai leads GuideSafe Event passport platform development
Dr. Rimmer, Director of RecTech will be the recipient of John Stanley Coulter Award at the ACRM conference. He will present the award lecture on Oct 28th, 2017 during the ACRM 94th conference in Atlanta. Click here to read more.
Dr. Thirumalai, Co-PI in R3 has received a $30,000 grant from the UAB center for study of community health. This study will use/apply the telecoaching techniques in a community setting. The system is based on POWERS platform from R3 project. Click here to read more.
UAB partnership strengthens physical rehabilitation in China: Dr. Scott Bickel (R2 PI) did a sabbatical in China for four months to improve rehabilitation there through academic and clinical teaching. He spent time in the clinic assessing patients with multiple health conditions while training rehab physicians and therapists on evaluation and treatment methods. he also spent significant time doing academic teaching of international medical students and community clinicians. All work was done in collaboration with Wuhan University and Project HOPE.Click here to read more.
MoveInMay: Everyone Needs to Move for National Physical Fitness Month – Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads. May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. It’s a great time to get moving and get committed to living a healthier and more active lifestyle!To read more click here.
From the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition (PCFSN), according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)’s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Strategies to Increase Physical Activities Among Youth, youth need 60 minutes or more of physical activity each day where they live, learn and play…Click to continue reading.
ASTM Publishes Standards for Inclusive Fitness Equipment. Click here to read more.
Two new ASTM International standards will provide specifications for fitness equipment that will be accessible to users of all abilities, including those with disabilities. The new standards, soon to be published as F3021, Specification for Universal Design of Fitness Equipment for Inclusive Use by Persons with Functional Limitations and Impairments…To read the story on SN Online click here.
Dr. Thirumalai’s PhD student, Ayse Zengul receives the NIDILRR’s Switzer Research Fellowship. https://www.uab.edu/shp/news/home/students-faculty/zengul-switzer-fellow-nidilrr
Dr.Anjali-Forber-Pratt, Director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research visits UAB. https://www.uab.edu/shp/home/news/cedhars-news/director-of-nidilrr-visits-uab-speaks-on-disability-identity
Dr. Laurie Malone, received grant funding ($44,808) from the Center for Study of Community Health and the Center for Clinical and Translational Science to expand the programming that was developed for RecTech’s PRECISE project and bring it to an underserved community outside of Birmingham, AL. That project is currently underway with an aim to evaluate the impact of the program on physical activity and socio-emotional health.
RecTech postdoc, Dr. Christen Mendonca, received a $35,000 internal grant from the Center for Engagement in Disability Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (2022) for his proposal, “Controlling videogames with an adapted touchpad system to increase physical activity among adults with mobility limitations.” https://www.uab.edu/shp/home/cedhars/get-involved/pilotprogram/controlling-videogames-with-an-adapted-touchpad-system-to-increase-physical-activity-among-adults-with-mobility-limitations
The Exercise and Fitness for All Act, which was introduced by Sen. Duckworth in the 115th Congress in December 2018 and reintroduced in the 116th Congress as S.1244 on 30 April 2019, was reintroduced in the 117th Congress as S.2504 on 28 July 2021 by Rep. DeSaulnier as H.R.4756 on the same day. It has worked to raise awareness and publicity over the last four years. Several dozen advocacy organizations have pledged their support for the bill. In the act, the UD/IF ASTM standards are used to help define “accessible exercise or fitness equipment,” and the act will require the Access Board to create guidelines regarding the provision of UD/IF equipment, programming, and staff trained in working with people with disabilities. This led to the US Access Board scheduling BD staff, other RESNA IF members, and other experts to present information regarding the need for inclusive fitness equipment and environments at their July 2021 meeting. The YouTube recording, “Moving Forward: Access to Inclusive Fitness Equipment,” has been viewed over 500 times.
Dr. Thirumalai and Dr. Mehta were awarded a multi-PI NIH R01 award focused on rural diabetes management. https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/12281-uab-awarded-nih-telehealth-grant-to-fight-diabetes-in-the-deep-south
Dr. Eberhardt (Director of RERC Training) won the 2021 Graduate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship https:// www.uab.edu/engineering/h ome/news-events/school-of -engineering-news/eberhar dt-wins-2021-graduate-dea n-s-award-for-excellence- in-mentorship.
Dr. Rimmer won the 2020-2021 School of Health Profession’s highest award for research (Volker Award)
Dr. Thirumalai in response to the COVID-19 pandemic released a tracker for COVID-19 symptom tracking at HelpBeatCOVID19.org. This work has since grown to become a wider reentry tool for universities, schools and businesses across Alabama and outside through staysafetogether.org. https://www.uab.edu/shp/news/home/students-faculty/feldman-thirumalai-covid-tracker
Dr. Rimmer was awarded a University-Wide Interdisciplinary Research Center at UAB. The Center is named the Center for Engagement in Disability Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (CEDHARS) and will increase the visibility of our RERC RecTech across the campus among researchers in engineering, medicine and the health professions. https://www.uab.edu/shp/home/cedhars
Updates
Documentary Featuring AVE(2)D shown on at the McWane Center
Design for Everyone is a documentary about universal design and inclusive fitness equipment produced and directed by University of Alabama at Birmingham Film Seniors Benjamin Johnson and David Love. The documentary features AVE(2)D and other RecTech projects and presents how the Lakeshore Foundation creates an inclusive fitness community. The documentary was shown on IMAX at the McWane Science Center.
Design for Everyone by Benjamin Johnson & David Love from UAB Media Studies on Vimeo.
Wheelchair Activity Monitoring on FastCoExist.com
Rectech principle investigator for the Wheelchair Activity Monitoring System Dan Ding is cited multiple times in an article on fastcoexist.com. The link is below.
Congressman Gary Palmer visits RERC RecTech
Congressman Gary Palmer visited RERC RecTech which is located at Lakeshore Foundation. Here is a tweet from him!
Dr. Rimmer Presents at White House Research Forum
In October of 2014 Dr. Rimmer was a panel member at the White House Research Forum on Improved Fitness for Americans with Disabilities. He also presented on a Physical Activity Inclusion Model and Methodology for Promoting Environmentally Friendly Settings: GRAIDS. The entire Forum and Dr. Rimmer’s presentation can be checked out here.
http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=14872&bhcp=1
Exercise and Fitness for All Act
Senator Harkin and Representative Farr introduced Exercise and Fitness for All Act, bills S.2888 and H.R.5541 to both houses of Congress on September 18, 2014. It directs the US Access Board to develop and publish guidelines for exercise or fitness service providers in order to provide accessible exercise or fitness equipment, including relevant personnel training. It requires such guidelines to ensure that exercise or fitness equipment is accessible to, and usable by, individuals with disabilities. The bills would also amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow eligible small businesses a tax credit for providing accessible exercise or fitness equipment for use by individuals with disabilities.
Sec 4. Exercise and Fitness Accessibility Guidelines, b.1 refers to the contents of the guidelines to be consistent with the Standard Specification for Universal Design of Fitness Equipment for Inclusive Use by Persons with Functional Limitations and Impairments of the (ASTM F3021–13).
https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/5541/text
https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/2888/text
EE_estimator Application Estimates Energy Expenditure in Manual Wheelchair Users
EE_estimator is a computer application designed for estimating energy expenditure of manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI) using the commercial activity monitor SenseWear armband (Bodymedia, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA). This application uses the personal information (e.g., height and weight) of a manual wheelchair user with SCI
Dr. Rimmer Named to President’s Council
Dr.Rimmer, PI of RecTech has been named to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition Science Board. He is the first researcher with a focus on the fitness of people with disabilities to be named to the prestigious post.
Rectech Attends RESNA 2014
RESNA, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting health and well-being for people with disabilities by increasing the opportunity for access to technology solutions. By advancing this field, RESNA’s purpose is to contribute to the public welfare through scientific, literary, professional and educational behavior sequentially to attain the highest eminence of life for all of society.
The RESNA 2014 Annual Conference was held at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis from June 11, 2014 – June 15, 2014.
Rectech staff at booth
Rectech Poster Presentations at RESNA 2014
Policies, Guidelines, And Standards to Increase Access To Fitness For People Of All Abilities
Seanna L. Hurley, MS, and Peter W. Axelson, MSME
Beneficial Designs, Inc., Minden, NV
To read more, Click here.
Seanna at booth
Identification Of Accessibility Barriers Encountered By Youth With Physical Disabilities During Active Video Game Play
Laurie Malone¹, Sangeetha Padalabalanarayanan², Mohanraj Thirumalai², Casey Herman¹, Laudrey B. Cody³, Christopher Mills³, David Ryan4, & James Rimmer²
¹Lakeshore Foundation, Birmingham, AL; ²School of Health Professions, University of Alabama at Birmingham; ³Department of Physical Therapy, University of Alabama at Birmingham; 4 Department of Human Studies, University of Alabama at Birmingham
To read more, Click here.
Tsang KL, Hiremath S, Ding D. Evaluating the Energy Expenditure Prediction Models for Manual Wheelchair Users with Spinal Cord Injuries. Paper presented at: The RESNA 37th Annual Conference; June 2014; Indianapolis, Indiana.
Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) Excellence in Research Writing Award
Dr. James Rimmer, P.I. of RecTech received the Association of Academic Physiatrists (AAP) Excellence in Research Writing Award for the article titled: “Telehealth Weight Management Intervention for Adults with Physical Disabilities: A Randomized controlled Trial.”
UAB Capstone Project Wins 2014 da Vinci Award
Two projects from the UAB BME Capstone Design course are among 15 finalists for the 2014 da Vinci Awards, including the Cost Effective Home Wheelchair Scale, developed in collaboration with RecTech and the UAB/Lakeshore Research Collaborative.