image: Jose Contreras-Vidal is the University of Houston REU Site program director and faculty mentor and director of the UH IUCRC BRAIN Center.
Credit: University of Houston
A three-year National Science Foundation program is underway at the University of Houston’s Industry-University Cooperative Research Center for Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology Center. The Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or REU site, is focused on safe and effective human-device interaction to help an ailing body move again.
The REU site will prepare students for future careers in regulatory science and medical device development. Regulatory science is the science of developing new tools, standards, methods, and approaches to assess the safety, efficacy, quality and performance of FDA-regulated products.
It’s the first REU Site focused on regulatory science.
“The program will address best design and engineering practices, computing tools and new computational methods to support early-stage medical device development and their evaluation so that as a nation, we can keep up with the accelerated pace of technology development and innovation," said Jose Contreras-Vidal, REU Site program director and faculty mentor and director of the UH IUCRC BRAIN Center.
“The National Science Foundation’s REU Site program leadership is excited by the unique opportunity for program participants to work at both a research institution and a government agency (FDA) as part of the program,” said Patricia Simmons, associate program director at the National Science Foundation.
Seven students will engage in the twelve-week program in Houston, Texas and in Silver Spring, Maryland. They will work closely with leading neural engineers and neuroscientists at the BRAIN Center and then work with FDA scientists at the Office of Science and Engineering Labs in the Center for Devices and Radiological Health on research that leads to development of regulatory science tools to support innovative medical device development and assessment. The tools will be focused on assessment methods for diagnostics, neural interfaces, medical robotics and other ongoing cutting-edge research in neural, cognitive and rehabilitation engineering.
“The program is designed to inspire bright and motivated undergraduates to pursue graduate education and careers in science and engineering research. Our objective is to develop a diverse, inclusive, and socially responsible workforce of young scientists, engineers and design professionals needed to address major gaps in the early-stage development of products and processes to fulfill healthcare needs of the U.S.,” said Contreras-Vidal.
The new REU site opened on Sept. 1.