EDUCATION GRANTS OF OVER $4.6 MILLION AWARDED FOR RESEARCH TO HELP IMPROVE LIVES OF DISABLED

FROM:  U.S. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 
$4.6 Million in Grants Awarded for Research Projects Aimed at Helping Improve Lives of People with Disabilities
SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

The U.S. Department of Education announced today the award of more than $4.6 million in grants to five institutions for research projects aimed at helping improve the lives of people with disabilities.

The grants are being awarded under the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC) Program. The recipients will conduct programs of advanced research of an engineering or technical nature designed to apply technology, scientific achievement and psychological and social knowledge to solve rehabilitation problems and remove environmental barriers.

"These projects aim to conduct research, develop plans and provide technical assistance to help improve the lives of individuals with disabilities," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "All of these efforts are intended to fulfill the goal of inclusion, integration, employment and self-sufficiency for people with disabilities."

The grants include:

The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System (CFDA 81.133E-4) -- $925,000.
Regents of the University of Michigan (CFDA 81.133E-5) -- $923,442
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) - (CFDA 81.133E-5) -- $924,937
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) - (CFDA 81.133E-7) -- $924,939
Carnegie Mellon University - (CFDA 81.133E-8) -- $923,878
In recent years, a variety of products have been created through the RERC program to help people with disabilities. Among them: accessible kiosks, voting booths and ATM machines. Other products have included "talking signs" for the blind community and hand-held hearing screening devices to screen for hearing loss in newborns, infants, young children and other difficult to test people.