The call for the Student Design Challenge is open. Great news! We've decided to extend the deadline to next Friday, February 28, 2025. This gives you a little extra time to wrap things up and put your best foot forward!
Student Design Challenge
Student Design Challenge Submission Guidelines
Student Design Challenge Proposal Fillable Form
Portal Submission Instructions - Power Point
Portal Submission Instructions - Video
OVERVIEW
The SDC is an annual competition which provides undergraduate, masters-level, and terminal clinical doctorate students an opportunity to create, develop, and showcase assistive technology designs that help people with a variety of disabilities to live more independent lives. Students may be from any discipline but past participants have included representatives from engineering, computer information science, architecture, and rehabilitation science programs (i.e. physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and prosthetics and orthotics). PhD students are not eligible to participate in the SDC.
Projects are judged by a group of AT experts on originality, innovation, quality of design, and usefulness to persons with disabilities. The top five SDC teams chosen as finalists have an opportunity to present their design at both the Student Design Challenge and in the Developers' Showcase during RehabWeek 2025. After presentations are complete, first-, second-, and third-place rankings are determined and announced at the RESNA Awards Ceremony. The winning teams receive a monetary prize in addition to a complimentary RESNA student membership.
The first prize of $1,000 is supported by the Joey Wallace Educational Scholarship Fund in honor of Joey Wallace, an educator, mentor and beloved RESNA staff person. RESNA would like to thank the Joey Wallace Scholarship Fund for their continued support of and investment in the future generation of assistive technology professionals. Read more about the Joey Wallace Educational Scholarship Fund.
Find out more information on past SDC winners and finalists!
Student Programs Sponsor:
To visit the Student Design Challenge's website archive and Read about our past winners, visit...