Honoring Teaching: Lawrence Bohs
Pratt School professor honored for path-breaking class on engineering devices for the disabled
Friday, April 22, 2005
Lawrence Bohs, who received his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Duke in 1987, received the Lois and John L. Imhoff Distinguished Teaching Award, which is selected annually by a faculty committee to recognize superior dedication to teaching. Although a research professor, Bohs teaches BME 260, Devices for People with Disabilities. Here’s how he describes the class:
Durham, N.C. -- "Richard Goldberg, KevinCaves and I teach a class called Devices
for People with Disabilities, in which students build projects for
people in the community. The students clarify the client's need,
design a solution, build, and deliver a working device, all in one
semester. They relish the
chance to apply their recently developed engineering skills to a real-life problem, while connecting personally with their client and feeling the satisfaction that comes from having a positive impact on someone's life.
“In addition to the project experience, the class explores the
field of rehabilitation engineering, emphasizes practice for
improvement in communications, and challenges students to consider
using their skills for the common good. Taken together, these
experiences can help students
broaden their view of the world.”
Bohs’ students have won 15 national awards for their devices from the NISH Workplace Technology Scholarship Competition, the Annual National Student Design Competition sponsored by the Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Society of North America, and the Annual National Student Design Competition sponsored by the University of Florida,Gainesville.
