Colin McLaurin Distinguished Lectureship Award

Recognizes a scholar and leader in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology who has made substantial and lasting contributions to the field.

This scholarly award was established as a memorial to Colin McLaurin, one of the outstanding pioneers in the field of rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology. The purpose is to honor an individual who has substantially and innovatively contributed to the development of the body of knowledge of the profession through research, education, and/or practice.

In 1997, an article was published in the Assistive Technology Journal, entitled, "Colin McLaurin - A Tribute to a Quiet Giant". This paper was written and published specifically to point out the significance of Colin McLaurin's contributions to the field. He was a leader in prosthetics R&D, in visioning rehabilitation engineering and a key contributor to what RESNA has become today. To quote a key sentence from this published tribute, "Colin inspired and enthused many people in the field of rehabilitation engineering. He left a rich legacy in every place his career took him, and in totality he has made a most profound contribution. He was one of North America's first rehabilitation engineers, and is recognized by many as the father of rehabilitation engineering…."

In 1980, a lectureship was created, with Colin McLaurin the first awardee. It went into stasis in 2002. In 2016 RESNA rejuvenated the Colin McLaurin Distinguished Lectureship Award as we see it today.

This lectureship is intended for the distinguished awardee to prepare and present a field-enlightening paper on a topic of their choice, and one that links our past to our future and expresses the promise of rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology in our contribution to improving the human condition.