Clint Warren, PhD, lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, recently authored an invited chapter, “Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in Major League Soccer,” in an upcoming book published by Routledge.
The book, “The Use of Video Technologies in Refereeing Football and Other Sports,” explores audio-visual technology from different perspectives to help understand the best implementation of the VAR (VAR) system in football and, more generally, in other sports.
Thomas Stoffregen, PhD, School of Kinesiology professor and director of the Affordance Perception Action Laboratory, is quoted in the article, “Cybersickness: Why People Experience Motion Sickness During Virtual Reality,” by Meeri Kim, Inside Science reporter.
The publication analyzes the significant rates of nausea in virtual reality systems, which are between 40% and 70% of the population after only 15 minutes according to Dr. Stoffregen. However, women are more prone to cybersickness and designers should work to combat this effect. “The existing interactive technologies are sexist in their effects. That is to say, they are more likely to make women sick than men,” says Stoffregen. “But this is not limited to technology — in general, women are more susceptible to motion sickness than men, anytime, anywhere.”
Sarah M Greising, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Skeletal Muscle Plasticity and Regeneration Laboratory (SMPRL), will speak at the Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS). The talk, “Can targeting pathologic fibrosis and muscle stiffness following limb trauma optimize skeletal muscle function?” will be on August 19, 2019 in Kissimmee, FL. Kyle A. Dalske, graduate student in the School and member of SMPRL, co-authored this research presentation.
School of Kinesiology professor and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL) Thomas Stoffregen, PhD, is the co-principal investigator on a new, four-year study from the National Science Foundation.
The award, “Prediction, Early Detection, and Mitigation of Virtual Reality Simulator Sickness,” allocates over $1,100,000 towards research on motion sickness in virtual reality environments. The interdisciplinary grant is a cross-college collaboration between the U of M’s College of Science and Engineering and the College of Education & Human Development. The principal investigator, Evan Rosenberg, and co-principal investigator, Victoria Interrante, are also directly involved with the grant and research efforts.
Third-year undergraduate student Lindsey Miles, has spent her summer working in the basement of the RecWell Center next to Cooke Hall with members of the Skeletal Muscle Plasticity and Regeneration Laboratory (SMPRL), directed by School of Kinesiology assistant professor Sarah Greising, PhD. Miles, studying exercise physiology at St. Scholastica in Duluth, is a current McNair Scholar, a federal program that prepares undergraduate students for entry into doctoral programs through research and community engagement. The McNair Scholars Program selects academically driven applicants who are first-generation college students with financial need, or are a member of a group that is traditionally underrepresented in hopes of increasing graduate degree awards.
Miles, a first-gen student herself, understands the significance of the McNair Program, as well as the struggles that accompany applying and paying for higher education pursuits.
“Coming from where I have, it was difficult to navigate the university system, but I was encouraged to apply to the McNair program by faculty and staff at St. Scholastica.”
Throughout the school year, Miles has weekly check-ins with her McNair Scholars Program advisers and peers, and she is required to make two major conference presentations related to her current research projects.
In collaboration with the School’s SMPRL research endeavors, Miles delved into learning more about volumetric muscle loss of skeletal muscle and loss of function after traumatic injuries. Miles investigated alternative regenerative medicine strategies using gene therapy, such as modified mmRNA, with biomedical engineering methods, such as aligned collagen scaffolds. This approach could lead to a transformation in both muscle fiber and vascular regeneration.
On Tuesday, July 30, Miles hopped on a plane to the 2019 National McNair Conference held at the University of California, Los Angeles. At the 3-day conference, Miles presented her research poster, “Acute Vascular Changes After Volumetric Muscle Loss Injury,” to over 300 event attendees.
“This is an invaluable opportunity to expand my presentation skills, build thoughtful research questions and my professional network.”
When she returns, Miles will head back to St. Scholastica to finish her degree and begin preparing for graduate school.
“My dream program is the U of M Medical School’s Doctor of Physical Therapy, and that’s why I chose to work with SMPRL for my research project,” Miles said. Post-graduation, she would like to gain clinical experience while preparing for a career in physical therapy and education. When asked what level Miles would like to teach, she answered “I really love college students. Everyone is dedicated and there for a reason. And having the supplementary clinical experience like many of my current professors makes learning so much fun.”
You may see Miles as a graduate student—or faculty member—on our very own campus one day—doing what she loves!
Diane Wiese-Bjornstal, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Sports Medicine Psychology Lab (SMPL), presented two papers at the 15th European Congress of Sport and Exercise Psychology held in Münster, Germany from July 15 – 20, 2019. With over 1,000 participants, the FEPSAC Congress was one of the largest international sport psychology congresses organized to date.
Members of SMPL that contributed to the two publications, “The model of sport injury socioculture: A socio-ecological view of the psychological, social, and cultural aspects of sport injury,” and “Religiosity and the use of religious ways of coping among Christian athletes during sport injury recoveries,” include the School’s PhD student, Kristin Wood, MS student Francesca Principe, and former BS honors student Emma Schwartz.
On Monday, July 29, Tom Stoffregen, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, presented at SIGGRAPH 2019 in Los Angeles, CA.
The conference, from July 28 – August 1, featured “global innovators who are changing what’s possible in computer graphics, animation, VR, Gaming, and Emerging Technologies.” Stoffregen, invited speaker and ACM workshop panelist, spoke on “Cybersickness and Postural Instability, and Cybersickness: Causes and Solutions.”
Madeline Czeck, graduate student in the School of Kinesiology, is the lead author of the article, “Total and Regional Body Composition of NCAA Division I Collegiate Female Softball Athletes,” in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.
The publication compared NCAA Division I female softball players’ throwing arm body composition to their non-throwing arm. Four major positions were tested, including pitching and outfielding, using Dual X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA). The study discovered that the throwing arm had significantly greater lean mass, bone mineral density, and bone mineral content than the non-throwing arm. A primary difference found was pitchers had larger total and regional fat values than outfielders.
Donald R. Dengel, PhD, professor and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology, and Christiana Raymond-Pope, PhD and Tyler Bosch, PhD, graduates from the School, also co-authored the article.
Maddy Czeck, graduate student in the School of Kinesiology, is the lead author of the article, “Total and regional body composition of NCAA division I collegiate baseball athletes,” in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.
The publication examines the body composition of over 200 NCAA Division I male baseball players using Dual X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA). It discovered significant differences in total and regional body composition measurements across athlete position, as well as composition variances in an athlete’s throwing arm in comparison to their non-throwing arm. The study will inform coaches and trainers on normative positional DXA data for collegiate baseball players.
Donald R. Dengel, PhD, professor and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology, and Christiana Raymond-Pope, PhD and Tyler Bosch, PhD, graduates from the School, co-authored the article.
Lisa A Kihl, PhD, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Global Institute for Responsible Sport Organizations, co-authored an article, “Why Empowering Women in Sports Is a Winning Game Plan,” in Mediaplanet’s Women in Sports campaign.
Women represent 45 percent of their leagues’ fanbases and have influence on 80 percent of all purchasing decisions, yet women are drastically underrepresented in leadership positions as only 7 percent of the NCAA Division I athletic directors are female. “By challenging power differentials in sport and intentionally advancing women’s status as coaches and leaders, we will see social, economic, and political impacts on lives both in and out of sports.”
Nancy Lough, PhD, professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, also contributed to the publication.
Jinseok Oh, doctoral student in the School of Kinesiology and member of the Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory, recently presented a research proposal at the Advanced Technology Institute’s Nonlinear Methods for Psychological Science Conference about the influences of the virtual reality environment on gait.
The conference, hosted by the American Psychological Association, was held at the University of Cincinnati from June 17-21, 2019.
Chris Curry, PhD student in the School of Kinesiology and member of the Affordance-Perception Action Laboratory, has published an article, “3D Hand Scanning to Digital Draping for Glove Design,” in the Advances in Interdisciplinary Practice in Industrial Design book series.
The article investigates new technologies such as 3D simulation and prototyping in relation to glove design and fit. The pilot study found that 3D glove simulation and digital draping can provide a robust understanding of fit to improve early design iterations.
Co-authors of the article include Linsey Griffin, PhD, assistant professor in the College of Design, Susan Sokolowski, PhD, associate professor at the University of Oregon, and Emily Seifert, apparel design master’s student.
Donald R. Dengel, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology, recently co-authored an article, “Body composition and visceral adipose tissue in female collegiate equestrian athletes,” in the International Journal of Sports Medicine. The study discovered that equestrian riders have less fat mass and more muscle mass in their legs suggesting the influence of horseback riding on leg development.
Olivia Dengel, graduate from the College of Saint Benedict, was the lead author of the publication. Christiana Raymond-Pope, PhD, post-doctoral associate, and Tyler Bosch, PhD, graduates from the School, were also co-authors of the article.
Mary Jo Kane, PhD, director emerita of the Tucker Center and professor in the School of Kinesiology, spoke with MPR News host Kerri Miller and Danielle O’Banion, assistant coach for the Gopher women’s basketball team, on the high number of female collegiate athletes, yet the discrepancy of female coaches.
Mary Jo Kane, left, and Danielle O’Banion stand for a portrait at MPR on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Evan Frost | MPR News
“Before Title IX, in the early 1970s, women had 90 percent of the top coaching jobs in women’s athletics. Today, due to the increase in resources and coaching salaries, among other factors, female athletic directors and coaches have been pushed to the sidelines and replaced by their male counterparts. The highest representation of female coaches works as graduate and volunteer assistants — entry-level roles for college athletics.”
Kane speaks to why there are so few female coaches in the industry and emphasizes the importance of male allies. After Title IX, female coaches and athletic directors now have access to the same training and are just as qualified as their male peers, yet “people hire people that look like them,” said Kane and Muffet McGraw, University of Notre Dame women’s basketball coach.
Sarah M Greising, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Skeletal Muscle Plasticity and Regeneration Laboratory (SMPRL), will present a research poster, “Is it possible to balance the fibrotic, myogenic, and neurogenic response after volumetric muscle loss injury to optimize skeletal muscle function?” at the 2019 Myogenesis Gordon Research Conference (Building, Maintaining and Regenerating Skeletal Muscle).
Daniel A. Hoffman, graduate student in the School and member of SMPRL, and Benjamin T. Corona co-authored the poster, along with Greising.
The conference hopes to broaden current knowledge on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control the formation, the maintenance and the regeneration of skeletal muscle. It will be held in Lucca, IT from June 9 – 14, 2019.
Ruth Rath, PhD candidate in the School of Kinesiology and member of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL), was awarded a travel grant from the School to attend the International Conference on Perception and Action (ICPA). The event will be held in Groningen, the Netherlands from July 3 – 6, 2019.
Rath will present two posters, “The role of chromaticity in postural control mechanisms” and “Postural time-to-contact as a precursor of visually induced motion sickness,” at the conference. Thomas Stoffregen, PhD, professor in the School and director of APAL, and Nicolette Peterson, doctoral student and APAL lab member, will also attend ICPA 2019.
“I have never left the country before and I’m absolutely thrilled! A special thanks to the School of Kinesiology for helping make this happen.”
Justin Karstadt, kinesiology alumnus and former Gopher men’s gymnast, has been nominated to the 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large team, and is also eligible for the CoSIDA Academic All-America accolade in June, 2019.
Photo courtesy of Gopher Athletics
During his time at the U of M, Karstadt has also been named a First Team All-Big Ten athlete for three years, a four-time All-American after placing sixth at the NCAA championships, and a candidate for the College Gymnastics Association’s Specialist of the Year award.
While finishing both the season and his academic career this year, Karstadt was honored as a finalist for the Nissen Emery Award, the “Heisman Trophy of college gymnastics,” and as one of Minnesota’s Big Ten Medal of Honor and Academic All-Big Ten recipients.
Chris Curry, PhD student in the School of Kinesiology and member of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, was awarded a student travel grant from the Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (ACM SIGCHI).
Curry will use the award funds to attend the Virtual Reality Software and Technology Symposium (VRST) 2019, co-sponsored by ACM SIGCHI and SIGGRAPH. The event is an international forum, and provides an opportunity for researchers and developers to interact, share new results, show live demonstrations of their work, and discuss emerging directions for the field.
The conference will be held from November 12-15, 2019 at Western Sydney University in Sydney, Australia.
Ryan Saunders, School of Kinesiology alumni, is now the head coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves men’s basketball team. He was named Interim Head Coach in January, 2019. Saunders graduated from the U of M with a bachelor’s degree in sport management in 2008; he also played for the Gopher men’s basketball team, where he was two-time captain, four-time scholar athlete award winner and a 2006 Big Ten All-Academic selection.
Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images
Prior to leading the Wolves, Saunders served as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards and as head coach for Minnesota’s Las Vegas Summer League entry. He also participated in the first Basketball Without Borders Europe Camp in Lohja, Finland in 2016 and Basketball Without Borders Asia 2018 in India.
“In Ryan, we are getting one of the bright, young coaching minds in the NBA,” said Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor in a recent NBA article. “I am impressed with how he has developed relationships with our players and with his modern approach to our growing game.”
Nicole Schammel, recent sport management M.Ed. alumna from the School of Kinesiology and gopher women’s hockey forward, has been inducted into the 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-District At-Large team. She is now qualified for a COSIDA Academic All-American accolade, which will be announced in June.
Photo courtesy of Gopher Sports
Throughout her successful senior season, Schammel has been named a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, an All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Second Team honoree and WCHA Scholar-Athlete, just to name a few. To learn more about Schammel’s accomplishments, visit Gopher Sports.
