[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 244 (Thursday, December 19, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76843-76845]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-30255]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering 
(NIBIB) Announcement of Requirements and Registration for the 2014 
NIBIB Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.

SUMMARY: The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and 
Bioengineering (NIBIB) DEBUT Challenge is open to teams of 
undergraduate students working on projects that develop innovative 
solutions to unmet health and clinical problems. NIBIB's mission is to 
improve health by leading the development and accelerating the 
application of biomedical technologies. The goals of the DEBUT 
Challenge are (1) to provide undergraduate students valuable 
experiences such as working in teams, identifying unmet clinical needs, 
and designing, building and debugging solutions for such open-ended 
problems; (2) to generate novel, innovative tools to improve 
healthcare, consistent with NIBIB's purpose to support research, 
training, the dissemination of health information, and other programs 
with respect to

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biomedical imaging and engineering and associated technologies and 
modalities with biomedical applications; and (3) to highlight and 
acknowledge the contributions and accomplishments of undergraduate 
students.

DATES: The competition begins December 19, 2013.
Submission Period: January 27, 2014 to May 29, 2014, 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Judging Period: June 10, 2014 to July 25, 2014
Winners announced: August 12, 2014
Award ceremony: October 2014, Biomedical Engineering Society Conference 
(exact date to be announced at http://www.nibib.nih.gov/training-careers/undergraduate-graduate/design-biomedical-undergraduate-teams-debut-challenge.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: [email protected] or (301) 451-4792.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Subject of Challenge Competition: The NIBIB DEBUT Challenge 
solicits design projects that develop innovative solutions to unmet 
health and clinical problems. Areas of interest for the biomedical 
engineering projects include, but are not limited to: diagnostics, 
therapeutics, technologies for underserved populations and low resource 
settings, point-of-care systems, precision medicine, preventive 
medicine, and technologies to aid individuals with disabilities.

Rules

    1. Who can win: To be eligible to win a prize under this challenge, 
an individual on the Student Team must
    (a) Be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States; and
    (b) Meet all the conditions below for eligibility to compete under 
this challenge.
    2. Who can compete: This is a team challenge. To be eligible to 
compete in this challenge, an individual must:
    (a) Be an undergraduate student enrolled full-time in an 
undergraduate curriculum during at least one full semester (or quarter 
if the institution is on a quarter system) of the 2013-2014 academic 
year;
    (b) Have his/her own active Department of Better Technology (DOBT) 
account that he/she has created at https://dashboard.dobt.co/sign_in.
    (c) Form or join a ``Student Team'' with at least two other 
individuals for the purpose of developing an entry for submission to 
this challenge. Each student on the Student Team must satisfy all the 
requirements for competing in this challenge. While it is expected that 
most of the individuals participating in the competition may be 
students from biomedical engineering departments, interdisciplinary 
teams including students from other fields are welcome and encouraged;
    (d) Acknowledge understanding and acceptance of the DEBUT challenge 
rules by signing the NIBIB DEBUT Challenge Certification Form found at 
https://www.nibib.nih.gov/sites/default/files/NIBIB%20DEBUT%20Certification%20Form.pdf. Each entry must include one 
NIBIB DEBUT Challenge Certification Form, completed with: the printed 
names of Student Team members, an indication of whether the team member 
is either a US citizen or permanent resident (as opposed to a foreign 
student on a visa), and be signed and dated by each individual member 
of the Student Team. Entries that do not provide a complete 
Certification Form will be disqualified from the challenge;
    (e) Be 13 years of age or older.
    (f) Not be a Federal employee acting within the scope of their 
employment. Federal employees seeking to participate in this challenge 
outside the scope of their employment should consult their ethics 
official prior to developing a submission; and
    (g) Comply with all the requirements under this section (Section 
2).
    3. Foreign students who are studying in the United States on a visa 
are eligible to be part of the competing Student Teams. However, they 
will not receive a monetary prize or be reimbursed for costs associated 
with participation in the award ceremony if they are part of a winning 
Student Team. See Prize section below for the distribution of prizes. 
As acknowledgement of their participation, however, the names of 
foreign students who are part of winning Student Teams will be listed 
among the winning team members when results are announced and at the 
award ceremony.
    4. By participating in this challenge, each individual agrees to 
abide by all rules of this challenge and the Terms of Participation 
located at https://contests.dobt.co/terms_of_participation.
    5. Each entry into this challenge must have been conceived, 
designed, and implemented by the Student Team. Student Teams 
participating in capstone design projects are especially encouraged to 
enter the challenge.
    6. Each Student Team may submit only one entry into this challenge 
through one member of the Student Team appointed as ``Team Captain'' by 
that Student Team. The Team Captain will carry out all correspondence 
regarding the Student Team's entry. The Team Captain must be a citizen 
or permanent resident of the United States.
    7. The Team Captain will submit a Student Team's entry on behalf of 
the Student Team by following the links and instructions at https://contests.dobt.co/debut2014/ and certify that the entry meets all the 
challenge rules.
    8. Each entry must comply with Section 508 standards that require 
federal agencies' electronic and information technology be accessible 
to people with disabilities, http://www.section508.gov/.
    9. Individuals who are younger than 18 must have their parent or 
legal guardian complete the Parental Consent Form found at https://www.nibib.nih.gov/sites/default/files/Parental%20Consent%20Form.pdf.
    10. Each entry must be submitted as a single pdf file and must 
include the following:
     Cover letter, on department letterhead, from a faculty 
member from the Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering or similar 
department of the institution in which the Student Team members are 
enrolled, verifying that the entry was achieved by the named Student 
Team, that each member of the team was enrolled full-time in an 
undergraduate curriculum during at least one semester or quarter of the 
academic year 2013-2014, and describing clearly any contribution from 
the advisor or any other individual outside the Student Team.
     The NIBIB DEBUT Challenge Certification Form (downloadable 
from https://www.nibib.nih.gov/sites/default/files/NIBIB%20DEBUT%20Certification%20Form.pdf completed with the printed 
names, indication of U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, dates, 
and signatures of each individual member of the Student Team.
     Completed Cover Page (downloadable from https://www.nibib.nih.gov/sites/default/files/NIBIB%20DEBUT%20Cover%20Page.pdf 
listing project title and team member information.
     Project Description (not to exceed 6 pages using Arial 
font and a font size of at least 11 points) that includes the following 
4 sections:

(1) Abstract
(2) Description of clinical need or problem, including background and 
current methods available
(3) Design, including a discussion of the innovative aspects
(4) Evidence of a working prototype (results/graphics obtained with the 
designed solution)


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    The 6-page limit includes any graphics, but excludes the cover 
page, certification form, parental consent form, and any references. 
Submissions exceeding 6 pages for the Project Description will not be 
accepted. An optional 2-minute video displaying the operation of the 
device/method may be included. However, the 6-page Project Description 
must be a stand-alone explanation of the project.
     A completed Parental Consent Form, accessible at https://www.nibib.nih.gov/sites/default/files/Parental%20Consent%20Form.pdf, 
for each individual on the Student Team who is under the age of 18.
    11. NIBIB will claim no rights to intellectual property. 
Individuals on the Student Team will retain intellectual property 
ownership as applicable arising from their entry. By participating in 
this challenge, such individuals grant to NIBIB an irrevocable, paid-
up, royalty-free, nonexclusive worldwide license to post, link to, 
share, and display publicly the entry on the Web, newsletters or 
pamphlets, and other information products. It is the responsibility of 
the individuals on the Student Team to obtain any rights necessary to 
use, disclose, or reproduce any intellectual property owned by third 
parties and incorporated in the entry for all anticipated uses of the 
entry.
    12. All entries must be submitted by the challenge deadline, May 
29, 2014, 11:59 p.m. EDT. Entries must not infringe upon any copyright 
or any other rights of any third party.
    13. By participating in this challenge, each individual agrees to 
assume any and all risks and waive claims against the Federal 
Government and its related entities, except in the case of willful 
misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, 
revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, 
arising from participation in this prize challenge, whether the injury, 
death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.
    14. Based on the subject matter of the challenge, the type of work 
that it will possibly require, as well as an analysis of the likelihood 
of any claims for death, bodily injury, or property damage, or loss 
potentially resulting from challenge participation, individuals are not 
required to obtain liability insurance or demonstrate financial 
responsibility in order to participate in this challenge.
    15. By participating in this challenge, each individual agrees to 
indemnify the Federal Government against third party claims for damages 
arising from or related to challenge activities.
    16. An individual shall not be deemed ineligible because the 
individual used Federal facilities or consulted with Federal employees 
during this challenge if the facilities and employees are made 
available to all individuals participating in the challenge on an 
equitable basis.
    17. NIBIB reserves the right to cancel, suspend, modify the 
challenge, and/or not award a prize if no entries are deemed worthy.
    Prize: The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes will be $20,000, $15,000, 
and $10,000, respectively, to be distributed only among the members of 
the winning Student Team eligible to win a prize in this challenge. The 
prize will be distributed equally among the prize-eligible Student Team 
members, i.e., students who are either citizens or permanent residents 
of the United States. Each prize-eligible member of the winning Student 
Teams must provide his/her bank information to enable electronic 
transfer of funds. Six honorable mentions will also be awarded, without 
an accompanying monetary prize or travel reimbursement.
    Winning Student Teams will be honored at the NIBIB DEBUT Award 
Ceremony during the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering 
Society (BMES) in San Antonio, Texas in October 2014. Updated 
information on the BMES annual meeting can be found at http://bmes.org/annualmeeting. Each winning Student Team will receive, in addition to 
the prize, up to $2,000 toward the travel and registration costs for 
the prize-eligible members of the Student Team to attend the award 
ceremony. While members of a winning Student Team who are neither 
citizens nor permanent residents of the United States are welcome to 
attend the award ceremony and their names will be listed among the 
winners, they cannot be reimbursed for their travel and related 
expenses.
    Travel must comply with National Institutes of Health policy and 
applicable laws and regulations (http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/104790) for example:

--Air travel must be by coach class, unless an alternative is medically 
necessary and documented.
--If you choose to drive to the meeting instead of taking a common 
carrier (airplane, train or bus), you may be reimbursed at 51 cents per 
mile, not to exceed the cost of common carrier.
--Limousine/taxi reimbursements are provided to and from airports as 
well as to and from meetings. Receipts are required whenever a fare 
exceeds $75 per trip.
--Per diem rates include lodging, and meals and incidental expenses 
(M&IE). Reimbursement for these varies by city. The current allowable 
room rate and the M&IE for the award ceremony location can be found at 
http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/21287.

    Honorable mention awardees are welcome to attend the award ceremony 
with funds from other sources; NIBIB will not provide travel 
reimbursement for Student Teams awarded with Honorable Mention.
    Basis Upon Which Winner Will Be Selected: The winning entries will 
be selected based on the following criteria:
     Significance of the problem addressed--Does the entry 
address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in 
clinical care or research?
     Impact on potential users and clinical care--How likely is 
it that the entry will exert a sustained, powerful influence on the 
problem and medical field addressed?
     Innovative design (creativity and originality of 
concept)--Does the entry utilize novel theoretical concepts, approaches 
or methodologies, or instrumentation?
     Working prototype that implements the design concept and 
produces targeted results--Has evidence been provided (in the form of 
results, graphs, photographs, films, etc.) that a working prototype has 
been achieved?
    Additional Information: For more information and to submit entries, 
visit https://contests.dobt.co/debut2014/.
    The NIBIB prize-approving official will be the Director of NIBIB. 
Prizes will be paid using electronic funds transfer and may be subject 
to federal income taxes. NIH will comply with the Internal Revenue 
Service (IRS) withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable.

    Dated: December 13, 2013.
Belinda Seto,
Deputy Director, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and 
Bioengineering.
[FR Doc. 2013-30255 Filed 12-18-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P