ACL's National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) is announcing 10 Switzer Research Fellowship awards for 2023. These projects are for one year from September 1, 2023-August 31, 2024, with the estimated funding amount of either $70,000 (Merit Fellowship) or $80,000 (Distinguished Fellowship).
The purpose of this program is to build research capacity by providing support to highly qualified individuals, including those who have disabilities, to conduct research on the rehabilitation of individuals with disabilities. Fellows must conduct original research in an area authorized by section 204 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. This may include research, demonstration projects, training, and related activities, the purposes of which are to develop methods, procedures, and rehabilitation technology that maximize the full inclusion and integration into society, employment, independent living, family support, and economic and social self-sufficiency of individuals with disabilities.
Switzer Research Fellowship awardees:
- Ashley Murphy: Mixed-Methods Examination of the Experiences of Black and Latinx Parents of Autistic Children Working with Their Child's Therapists During the Early Intervention-to-Special Education Transition
- Ayse Torres: Augmented Reality Enhanced Supported Employment for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Jessica Edelstein: Evaluating the Relationships Between Hospital-Based Rehabilitation Service Delivery Factors and Community Discharge, Change in Function, and Readmission Risk for Older Adults Hospitalized for Stroke
- Mara Bianca Nery-Hurwit: Healthcare Provider Implicit Bias Training to Improve the Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare of Women with Disability
- Mohammad Habibur Rahman: Investigate Novel Home-Based Telerehabilitation Systems Integrated with Rehabilitation Robots to Rehabilitate Stroke Survivors with Upper Limb Dysfunctions
- Seth Robert Donahue: Personalized Biofeedback and Prosthetic Intervention for Locomotor Rehabilitation of Persons with Lower Limb Amputation
- Stephanie Danielle Agtarap: Evaluating Readiness of Caregivers Following a Loved One’s Discharge Home from Inpatient Rehabilitation — Validating the PATH-25 for the Moderate-Severe TBI Population
- Tiago da Silva Jesus: Rural-Urban Disparities in Post-Acute Therapy Utilization — Identifying Hot Spots of Low Utilization Among Fee-for-Service Medicare Beneficiaries Toward Informing Policy and Public Health Interventions
- Veronica I. Umeasiegbu: Investigating Gaps in Self-management, Secondary Conditions, and Quality of Life among Aging Blacks with Spinal Cord Injury
- Woolim Hong: Towards Improved Coordination and Personalization in Lower-Limb Prostheses — Auto-Tuning Embedded Gait-Phase-Based Impedance Control
NIDILRR funded the seven highest-ranked Switzer applications in rank order. NIDILRR funded an additional three Switzer grants out of rank order from among the high-scoring Switzer applicants. These applicants present unique opportunities to advance knowledge to improve the lives of individual with disabilities, per 45 CFR 1330.25 (b)(1).
Contact Kenneth.Wood@acl.hhs.gov at NIDILRR if you have questions about the Switzer Research Fellowship Program.
To stay current on NIDILRR grant opportunities, please visit grants.gov and search: NIDILRR or 93.433.
NIDILRR, part of ACL, generates new knowledge and promotes its effective use so that people with disabilities can perform activities of their choice in the community. NIDILRR also works to expand society’s capacity to provide full opportunities and accommodations for people with disabilities.