Gao to participate in Diversity Through the Disciplines Symposium 2018 on April 12

April 9, 2018

On Thursday, April 12, Zan Gao, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology, will be participating in the Diversity Through the Disciplines Symposium 2018 sponsored by the Institute for Diversity, Equity, and Advocacy. Gao will be joining fellow past Multicultural Award Recipients who are also presenting at the event. His presentation is titled “Feasibility of Smartphone Exercise Apps in Health Outcomes in Minority Breast Cancer Survivors.”

The symposium will be held in the Presidents Room, Coffman Memorial Union, at 12:15 p.m. (12:00 sign-in). The talks are free and open to the public. Lunch will be provided.

Stoffregen gives invited talk at conference at Concordia University

April 9, 2018

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology, gave an invited talk Friday, April 6, at the 2018 Sport Movement Skill Conference at Concordia University, St. Paul. He spoke on “Movement kinematics can predict individual susceptibility to mTBI.” His work with former advisee Yi-Chou Chen, Ph.D., examined posture in relation to the fact that nausea and vomiting are common early symptoms of concussion and showed that objective measures of postural sway predict susceptibility to symptoms of mTBI (mild traumatic brain injury) in competition boxers.

Kinesiology student and U of M athlete Sidney Peters receives 2018 Hockey Humanitarian Award

April 7, 2018

Sidney Peters, Gopher Women’s Hockey goaltender and senior in the School of Kinesiology, was drawn to volunteer work from the very beginning of her college career. As a freshman, she became involved in M.A.G.I.C (Maroon And Gold Impacting the Community), a program designed to encourage student-athletes to get involved in community service, and she has continued volunteering her time and talents with organizations ever since. On Friday, April 6, her commitment to helping others was recognized when she received the prestigious Hockey Humanitarian Award from the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation. The organization presented Peters with a check for $2,500 during a ceremony held at the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four tournament in St. Paul. The funds will be donated to her designated charity, Project Medishare.

The Hockey Humanitarian Award is given each year to college hockey’s finest citizen — a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team, but also to the community-at-large through leadership in volunteerism.

Peters was deeply affected by her experience in 2016 when she traveled to Haiti to work as a volunteer in a hospital there. She continued her service when she returned, volunteering as an EMT and getting involved with other community organizations.

The award is featured in multiple media:

Gopher Women’s Hockey: Listen to Peters’ own words on her service work and what it means to her: Gopher Women’s Hockey video clip
StarTribune: Peters wins Hockey Humanitarian Award

Kinesiology senior Groshens presents at NASCM meeting

April 4, 2018

Emily Groshens, a fourth-year kinesiology undergraduate major graduating in May, will present a poster titled, “A Qualitative Assessment of Family Influence on Weight-Related Behaviors among African-Americans” at the Northland American College of Sports Medicine Regional Meeting (NASCM) at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul on Friday, April 6.

Along with serving as an undergraduate research assistant with Daheia Barr-Anderson, Ph.D. and the Behavioral Physical Activity Laboratory (BPAL) for the past two years, Emily is a member of the Kinesiology Student Council and a familiar face in the School as Kinesiology as she is one of the student interns in the main office.

Kinesiology Ph.D. students McDonough and Peterson receive Professional Development Awards

April 4, 2018

Two School of Kinesiology graduate students have received Professional Development Awards for the 2017-2018 academic year.

Daniel McDonough, Ph.D. student in the Physical Activity and Health emphasis, and Nicolette Peterson, Ph.D. student in the Movement Science emphasis, will each receive $4,000 to help cover costs related to conference registration, travel, special research equipment and supplies, and technology items related to their studies.

McDonough is advised by Zan Gao, Ph.D., and is a member of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory (PAEL). Peterson is advised by Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., and is a member of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL).

Barr-Anderson receives prestigious McKnight Presidential Fellow Award

April 3, 2018

The School of Kinesiology is proud to announce that Daheia Barr-Anderson, Ph.D., faculty member and director of the Behavioral Physical Activity Laboratory (BPAL), has been selected as a University of Minnesota McKnight Presidential Fellow. This three-year fellowship, presented by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Board of Trustees, is awarded to mid-career faculty and recognizes significant scholarly accomplishments. The award provides resources for research or scholarly activities.

Dr. Barr-Anderson’s research interests focus on physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and obesity prevention in children and adolescents, with emphasis on home- and community-based environmental interventions that incorporate both physical activity and nutrition to achieve healthy outcomes and to decrease racial/ethnic health inequalities. She has been the Principal Investigator on grants from the General Mills Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and NIH Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) program, and Co-Investigator on several NIH R01 grants.

Barr-Anderson is one of five newly tenured faculty members at the University to receive this prestigious award. Congratulations, Dr. Barr-Anderson!

Stoffregen, Wade publish with co-authors in Human Movement Science

April 2, 2018

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., and Michael G. Wade, Ph.D., are co-authors on an article published in Human Movement Science. Visual tasks and stance width influence the spatial magnitude and temporal dynamics of standing body sway in 6- to 12-year old children had study results consistent with the idea that effects of stance width and suprapostural visual tasks were well-established by the age of 6 years.

Co-authors are Roberto Izquierdo-Herrera, doctoral candidate at the University of Valencia (Spain), and Prof. Xavier Garcia-Masso and Prof. Luis-Millan Gonzalez, faculty at the University of Valencia. The research was conducted at the U of M under the supervision of Stoffregen and Wade.

Baeth places second in CEHD 3MT® competition

April 2, 2018

Anna Baeth, School of Kinesiology Ph.D. student with a focus on sport sociology, finished second in this year’s 3-Minute Thesis competition, which is part of the CEHD research day. Her presentation titled “An Analysis of Women Coaches with Career Longevity in NCAA Division I Sport” described her research around the questions of “who are the women who stay in these positions?” and “what are the factors for this?” Watch the video below for the entire presentation.

Baeth is co-advised by Mary Jo Kane, Ph.D., and Nicole LaVoi, Ph.D. She currently is a research assistant in the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women n Sport.

The 3-Minute Thesis (3MT®) is a research communication competition developed by The University of Queensland, Australia, in 2008 and is held in over 200 universities worldwide. It is open to Ph.D. students and challenges participants to present their research in just 180 seconds in an engaging form that can be understood by an audience with no background in the research area.

PAEL director, lab members present at SHAPE America 2018 and International Chinese Society for Physical Activities and Health (ICSPAH)

April 2, 2018

The School of Kinesiology’s Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory (PAEL) team had a strong presence at two conferences held in Nashville, TN, last month.

Lab members successfully presented five separate research studies at the SHAPE America 2018 Conference and Expo, March 20-24. Kinesiology associate professor and PAEL lab director Zan Gao, Ph.D., and current and former advisees June Lee, Ph.D., and Zachary Pope, Ph.D. candidate, each presented one first-author abstract. Nan Zeng, Ph.D. candidate, presented two first-author abstracts.

The research covered an array of topics within the field of Physical Activity and Health, ranging from a longitudinal study investigating the 3-year trajectory of physical activity and weight status in school-aged children, to comparing the physiological effects between virtual reality and traditional exercise biking.

Full citations of the presentations at SHAPE America are below.

1. Gao, Z., Lee, J., Stodden, D., Xiang, P., & Zhang, P. (2018, March). Trajectory Changes of
Physical Activity and Weight Status in Children. Paper presented at the annual meeting of
SHAPE, Nashville, Tennessee.

2. Pope, Z., Zeng, N., & Gao, Z. (2018, March). Comparing physiological effects between
virtual reality and traditional exercise biking. Paper presented at the annual meeting of SHAPE,
Nashville, Tennessee

3. Lee, J., Zeng, N., Zhang, Y., & Gao, Z. (2018, March). Children’s psychosocial beliefs and
physical activity levels in physical education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of SHAPE,
Nashville, Tennessee.

4. Zeng, N., Pope, Z., & Gao, Z. (2018, March). Acute effect of virtual reality on college
students’ psychological outcomes. Paper presented at the annual meeting of SHAPE, Nashville,
Tennessee.

5. Zeng, N., Stodden, D., & Gao, Z. (2018, March). Dynamic relationship between perceived
competence and motor skills in children. Paper presented at the annual meeting of SHAPE,
Nashville, Tennessee.

At the International Chinese Society for Physical Activities and Health, Gao and lab members/advisees Nan Zeng, Daniel (DJ) McDonough and Wenxi Liu, both first-year Ph.D. students, each presented one first-author abstract. The presentations covered topics such as the examination of physiological and psychosocial health outcomes during various modes of exergaming and investigating physical activity correlates and behaviors from the perspective of the Social Ecological Model. Notably, Zeng and McDonough won first-place awards for best oral and poster presentations, respectively. Full citations are below.

1. Li, X., Liu, W., Xiong, S., Tao, K., Yang, Z., Zeng, N., & Gao, Z. (2018). Examining associations
among motivation, physical activity and health in Chinese college students. Paper presented at
2018 International Chinese Society for Physical Activities and Health (ICSPAH) annual meeting in
Nashville, TN.

2. Liu, W., Li, X., Xiong, S., Tao, K., Peng, Q., Zeng, N., & Gao, Z. (2018) Associations among
Chinese college students’ physical activity correlates and behaviors: A social ecological model.
Paper presented at 2018 International Chinese Society for Physical Activities and Health
(ICSPAH) annual meeting in Nashville, TN.

3. McDonough, D., Pope, Z., Zeng, N., Lee, J., & Gao, Z. (2018). College students’
psychosocial outcomes and step counts during single- and double-player exergaming
conditions. Paper presented at 2018 International Chinese Society for Physical Activities and
Health (ICSPAH) annual meeting in Nashville, TN.

4. Xiong, S., Zeng, N., Liu, W., Tao, K., Li, X., & Gao, Z. (2018). College Students’ physical
activity, cardiovascular fitness, body composition and health status in China: A cross-sectional
study. Paper presented at 2018 International Chinese Society for Physical Activities and Health
(ICSPAH) annual meeting in Nashville, TN.

5. Zeng, N., Pope, Z., Lee, J., & Gao, Z. (2018, March). College students’ enjoyment, self-
efficacy, and energy expenditure in exergaming and treadmill walking. Paper presented at 2018
International Chinese Society for Physical Activities and Health (ICSPAH) annual meeting in
Nashville, TN.

Stoffregen accepts 3-year appointment as Academic Editor at PLOS ONE

April 2, 2018

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, has accepted a 3-year appointment as an Academic Editor at PLOS ONE, the world’s first multidisciplinary Open Access journal. It remains a high-impact leader in peer-reviewed Open Access scientific publishing.

Smith presents paper at U of M conference on public engagement

April 2, 2018

Thomas Smith, Ph.D., affiliated lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, presented a paper, “School District Community Ambassadors for Improving Student Academic Achievement,” at a conference held March 1. The conference, “Advancing Publicly-Engaged Research, Teaching and Learning to Address Society’s Grand Challenges,” was sponsored by the University of Minnesota. Smith’s presentation advocates the development of a school community ambassador program aimed at supporting students’ academic performance by tightening school community integration. Evidence indicates that the socioeconomic status of a community is positively correlated with the academic performance of students in community

Ji lab publishes two research articles on oat avenanthramides

March 29, 2018

Members of the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene and Exercise Science (LPHES) under the directorship of Li Li Ji, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology, recently published the following research articles:

Tianou Zhang, Ph.D. candidate in the School of Kinesiology with an emphasis in exercise physiology, is the lead author of the research study titled, “Absorption and Elimination of Oat Avenanthramides (AVAs) in Humans after Acute Consumption of Oat Cookies,” published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity (IF=4.593). Coauthors include doctoral student Dongwook Yeo, former research associate Chounghun Kang, and Li Li Ji, Ph.D. The publication discovered that AVAs found naturally in oats are absorbed in the plasma after oral administration in humans.

Chounghun Kang, Ph.D., assistant professor at Inha University, South Korea, and former LPHES research associate, published a research paper on AVAs titled, “Anti-inflammatory Effect of Avenanthramides via NF-κB Pathways in C2C12 Skeletal Muscle Cells” in Free Radical Biology and Medicine (IF=5.606). Dongwook Yeo, Tianou Zhang, and Li Li Ji, Ph.D. are coauthors on this publication. The data in the study indicates that AVAs are potent inhibitors of NFκB-mediated inflammatory response due to their downregulation of IKKβ activity in C2C12 cells.

Avenanthramides (AVA) are a group of compounds found exclusively in oats and are bioavailable to humans. To date, studies have shown that AVAs have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Health benefits of oat avenanthramides may help in the development of value-added products and enhance oat consumption in Minnesota, whose oat production ranks in the top three nationally.

APAL graduate students, adviser publish in Experimental Brain Research

March 27, 2018

Kinesiology graduate students from the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL) and their adviser, Tom Stoffregen, Ph.D., have published an online article in the journal, Experimental Brain Research. The citation is: Li, R., Walter, H., Curry, C., Rath, R., Peterson, N., & Stoffregen, T. A. (2018). Postural time-to-contact as a precursor of visually induced motion sickness. The results of the study they conducted provide a qualitatively new type of support for the postural instability theory of motion sickness.

Ruixuan Li is a Ph.D. candidate in the U of M doctoral program in Human Factors and Ergonomics and is a member of APAL, along with Kinesiology graduate students Hannah Walter, Chris Curry, Ruth Rath, and Nicolette Peterson.

Dengel presents on body composition analysis at George Mason University

March 27, 2018

Donald R. Dengel, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology, presented at George Mason University’s Department of Kinesiology on March 26, 2018. The title of Dr. Dengel’s talk was “Frontiers in Body Composition Analysis: From Infants to NFL Players.”

Greg Lais, instructor in the Recreation Administration program, honored by AACSB-International

March 26, 2018

Greg Lais, MBA, long-time instructor in the School of Kinesiology’s Recreation Administration undergraduate program, and integral contributor to the Outdoor Recreation and Education minor, has been honored by the Association to Advance College Schools of Business (AACSB)-International for making an impact in his community and serving as a role model to future business leaders.

Lais graduated with his MBA in 1991 from the Carlson School of Management. He has taught Outdoor and Camp Leadership and advised students in the Senior Internship in Recreation Administration for 10 years for the School of Kinesiology. He is the founder and executive director of Minneapolis-based nonprofit outdoor adventure and education organization Wilderness Inquiry and is part of the 2018 class of the AACSB’s Influential Leaders Challenge.

Konczak gives talk at CCS Colloquium/Perception Lunch

March 26, 2018

Jürgen Konczak, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the HSC Laboratory, presented at the Center for Cognitive Science (CCS) Colloquium/Perception Lunch Talks on Tuesday, March 27.

The title of Konczak’s talk was “Proprioception – the silent sense: What happens, if it is no longer there?” He illustrated what happens if someone experiences complete or partial loss of proprioception by referring to classic clinical studies and showing data from the lab’s work in patients with dystonia, Parkinson’s disease and cortical stroke.

Christopher Curry, Kinesiology PhD student, has two posters at 2018 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care

March 26, 2018

Christopher Curry, Ph.D. student in the School of Kinesiology, has two posters being presented at the 2018 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care in Boston, MA, March 26-28. Curry is advised by Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor of movement science in the School and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL). Citations for the posters are below:

Curry, C., Abdelrahman, A., Lowndes, B., Morrow, M., & Hallbeck, S. (2018, March). Identifying Higher Ergonomic Risk during a Simulation Task.

Koenig, J., Abdelrahman, A., Curry, C., Mohan, A., Lemaine, V., Noland, S., Hallbeck, S., & Lowndes, B. (2018, March). Preliminary Analysis of Surgeon Body Posture and Musculoskeletal Risk Based on Patient Positioning During Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction.

Zeng, Pope, Lee, and Gao publish in Journal of Clinical Medicine

March 24, 2018

School of Kinesiology Ph.D. candidates Nan Zeng and Zachary Pope are first and second authors, respectively, on a recent article they published with their adviser, associate professor Zan Gao, Ph.D., in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

Gao’s former advisee Jung Eun Lee, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, is third author. Gao is director of the School’s Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory.

The article, titled “Virtual Reality Exercise for Anxiety and Depression: A Preliminary Review of Current Research in an Emerging Field,” discusses the authors’ study, which synthesized literature concerning the effect of virtual reality (VR) exercise on anxiety and depression among various populations. The study concluded that existing evidence is insufficient to support the advantages of VR exercise as a stand-alone treatment over traditional therapy in the alleviation of anxiety and depression, and that more research is needed.

Zachary Pope, Kinesiology PhD candidate, to present at U’s Doctoral Research Showcase April 3

March 22, 2018

The University’s eleventh annual Doctoral Research Showcase will include a presentation by Zachary Pope, Kinesiology Ph.D. candidate and advisee of Zan Gao, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Lab (PAEL).

The Showcase will be held Tuesday, April 3 from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. in the Great Hall, Coffman Memorial Union.

The goal of the Doctoral Research Showcase is to help doctoral fellows develop their abilities to talk about their research to audiences outside of their disciplines and to gain exposure for their work with key stakeholders.

Pope’s research presentation is “Use of Wearable Technology to Improve Physical Activity and Eating Behaviors among College Students: A 12-week Randomized Pilot Study.” All Kinesiology colleagues are invited to attend and support Mr. Pope.

For more information about the event or to view a list of all of this year’s participants, visit: z.umn.edu/drs2018.

Tucker Center research cited in article in The Golf Business

March 20, 2018

A recent article in the publication The Golf Business cites research carried out by the Tucker Center for Research in Girls & Women in Sport. “Why positive media exposure is essential for women’s golf” discusses the current limited growth of women’s golf and the important impact that positive media exposure of women’s golf can have on recruitment and retention of women golfers. The 2013 documentary produced by the Tucker Center and tptMN public television station, “Media Coverage & Female Athletes,” was referenced.

CEHD News Kinesiology

CEHD News Kinesiology