DARE Conference: Transformative Opportunities for Modeling in Neurorehabilitation; Los Angeles, California; March 3-4, 2023
USC is hosting the first-ever DARE Conference in collaboration with the University of Washington. The NSF DARE (Disability and Rehabilitation Engineering) program supports fundamental engineering research that will improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities.
Computer algorithms and models (i.e., computational modeling) of how the brain controls the body have had profound impacts on our scientific understanding and implementation of rehabilitation in neurological conditions (neurorehabilitation) such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, etc. Nevertheless, computational modeling efforts remain largely confined to research communities — and thus underutilized in clinical care and not available to clients of neurorehabilitation. There is, therefore, an urgent need to bring together stakeholders invested in these technologies, models, neuroscience, rehabilitation, and advocate communities to evaluate progress to date, opportunities opened by novel software and devices, and client needs.
The mission of the researchers involved in this workshop is to develop innovative techniques that can use computational modeling and device design to understand, optimize, and improve neurorehabilitation.