REC students involved in Resilient Communities Project (RCP)

January 25, 2017

Under the leadership of Tony Brown, Ph.D., Recreation Administration instructor in the School of Kinesiology and associate director of the Department of Recreational Sports, students participated in this year’s Resilient Communities Project (RCP), working with the City of Brooklyn Park. The students enrolled in the Recreation Administration major applied their knowledge and skills to a real-world project with a community partner. They worked with the City’s in its effort to address nature-based recreation opportunities and equitable use of athletic fields.

The RCP is an organization dedicated to connecting communities in Minnesota with diverse expertise of University of Minnesota faculty and students to address pressing local issues in ways that advance sustainability and resilience.

China Champions visit 3M

January 24, 2017

On January 16 the China Champions along with associate professor Dr. Zan Gao, Ph.D got the opportunity to visit 3M, a manufacturing company in Maplewood, MN. There they heard presentations and toured 3M’s Innovation Center.

Led by the U of M’s School of Kinesiology in collaboration with Beijing Sport University and supported by the Chinese government’s Scholarship Council, the China Champions program is a unique, global collaboration that provides mutual benefits for Chinese athletes and University faculty, staff and students.

Students in Sport Management class work with Forest Lake school on best practices for developing athletic program

January 24, 2017

Ryan Santoso (left) and Justin Juenemann presented their recommendations.

Students in a Sport Management course in the School of Kinesiology had a real-world opportunity to help a K-12 school in Forest Lake consider ways to develop and expand an athletic program for their students in grades 6-12.

The students in SMGT 3881W, a capstone course for undergraduates taught by Lisa Kihl, Ph.D., associate professor in the School, collaborated with Lakes International Language Academy (LILA) to come up with best practices for an athletics department operations manual that covered areas such as policies, recruiting and training coaches, facilities, and marketing. The students worked in groups and presented their plans to school director Shannon Peterson and athletics and activities director Jenni Muras.

“This is the students’ opportunity to demonstrate that they are prepared academically and professionally as graduates to contribute meaningful work for real-world sports concerns,” said Kihl. “I set the expectations high. And every time, these students amaze me.”

“We were thrilled to participate in this capstone project,” Muras said. “With Dr. Kihl’s expert guidance, the University students provided useful information that reflects our school’s mission, values, and International Baccalaureate focus. We’re looking forward to continuing the relationship with the U.”

LILA is a public K-12 Mandarin and Spanish language immersion school.

LaVoi quoted in online publication row2k

January 23, 2017

An article in the online publication row2k takes on the issue of the number of women in head coaching positions in collegiate rowing programs. Nicole LaVoi, Ph.D., senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology and co-director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport, is quoted on her research in the Tucker Center Report Card on women head coaches in collegiate sports, which shows that rowing has even fewer head coaches than many other women’s sports. LaVoi says:

“There really aren’t many women coaches in the big programs. We have record numbers of women participating in rowing, but we don’t see that translating into women coaching in rowing, and that’s a little concerning.”

Read the full story here.

Stoffregen quoted in Australian ABC News

January 19, 2017

Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL), is quoted in the Science News section of ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). In the article, he discusses seasickness and how to prevent it, based on his research on motion sickness and postural sway.

Read the full article here.

Teen Innovator top prize winners present their project in KIN 1871

January 18, 2017

Hamsa Osman, Charly, Sayed, and Dr. Thul in KIN 1871

Three eighth-graders from Cedar Riverside Community School in Minneapolis who won a top national prize for their idea to provide kids access to sports and safety equipment have a School of Kinesiology connection.

Students Charly Tiempos, 13, Sayed Adan, 14, and Hamsa Osman Abdalah, 14, won the SAP Social Innovation Series Teen Innovator top prize with their winning idea, “Sports–Check It Out,” a system that allows kids to check out needed sports equipment, safety gear and winter clothing so they can be outside and active all year round. Their prize is $10,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to the Super Bowl next month in Houston.

The competition involved teams of 300 mostly high school students from 69 schools across the nation. Students were asked to develop a health and wellness program in their school or community and present it to a panel of judges. Finalists then competed for the grand prize via a national online vote, which required public presentations in their communities. The Cedar Riverside Community School team presented their idea December 8 in the sport ethics section of KIN 1871 Survey of Kinesiology, Recreation and Sport taught by Chelsey Thul, Ph.D., Kinesiology lecturer.

Read the full story in the StarTribune.

LaVoi quoted on female representation in collegiate sports in NCAA’s Champion magazine

January 17, 2017

Nicole LaVoi, Ph.D., lecturer in the School of Kinesiology and co-director of the Tucker Center, is one of a number of noted scholars featured in the Winter 2017 edition of the online NCAA publication, Champion magazine. The feature, “Where Are the Women?”, explores the continuing lack of female representation among coaches in collegiate sports. The article notes, “Female representation among coaches is highest at the most entry level of positions — graduate assistants, volunteer assistants — but drops as the level of the position rises. About half of paid assistant coaches for women’s teams are women, roughly 10 percent higher than the number of head coaches.”

“As the position becomes more visible and more powerful and more lucrative, we have fewer females,” says Nicole LaVoi, co-director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport and author of the book, Women in Sports Coaching. “They’re dropping out of the pipeline. And to me, that’s troubling.”

Read the full article here.

Kinesiology graduate student Kate Uithoven is lead author on article in Journal of Vascular Diagnostics and Interventions

January 17, 2017

Kate Uithoven, M.S./Ph.D. student in the School of Kinesiology, is the lead author of an article published in the Journal of Vascular Diagnostics and Interventions. The article entitled “Determination of bilateral symmetry of carotid artery structure and function in children and adolescents” examines symmetry of carotid arteries in youth using high-resolution ultrasound. Donald R. Dengel, Ph.D., Kinesiology professor and director of the Laboratory of Integr ative Human Physiology, and Nicholas Evanoff, Ph.D. student in the School of Kinesiology, are co-authors on the article.

Lewis interviewed for online article, “2017’s Best and Worst Cities for an Active Lifestyle”

January 10, 2017

Beth Lewis, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Kinesiology, is one of the experts interviewed for WalletHub’s online article, “2017’s Best and Worst Cities for an Active Lifestyle.” The article lists criteria used for evaluating the cities and ranks them. (Minneapolis received an overall ranking of 6 out of 100 cities.)

Dr. Lewis was one of a panel of experts who responded to questions about how people and their families can incorporate active lifestyle changes in their lives, and how to influence change at the policy level. Read the story and Dr. Lewis’s interview here.

Frayeh and Lewis publish in International Journal of Exercise Science

January 9, 2017

Former School of Kinesiology doctoral student Amanda Frayeh Ph.D., now assistant professor for sport studies at Lock Haven University, published a research article titled “Sport Commitment Among Adult Recreational Soccer Players: Test of an Expanded Model” in the International Journal of Exercise Science. Co-author of the article is Amanda’s former adviser Beth Lewis, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Kinesiology.

The study expanded versions of an existing research model to explore psychosocial factors related to adults’ participation in recreational team sport. The purpose is to demonstrate that sport commitment is related to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).

Global Seminar students blog from Kenya

January 4, 2017

Over winter break, Daheia Barr-Anderson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology, is teaching a Global Seminar course in Nairobi, Kenya, as part of the U of M’s Learning Abroad programs. The course, titled “Empowering Girls Through Sport,” explores how in the Kenyan culture physical activity is used as a gateway to many aspects of life and how it can empower youth, especially girls.

Students, who are traveling in Kenya from December 26, 2016, to January 16, 2017, are blogging about their experiences: www.umninkenya2017.edublogs.org

Dengel publishes in Journal of Geriatric Cardiology and Pediatric Research

January 3, 2017

Donald R. Dengel, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology, has co-authored two recently published articles.

“Submaximal oxygen uptake kinetics, functional mobility, and physical activity in older adults with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction” appeared in the Journal of Geriatric Cardiology.

The article “Impaired cardiac autonomic nervous system function is associated with pediatric hypertension independent of adiposity” appeared in Pediatric Research and examined whether sympathetic nervous system activity influences hypertension status and blood pressure in children and adolescents. These data suggest that impaired cardiac autonomic nervous system function is associated with higher odds of being prehypertensive/hypertensive and may be independent of adiposity in children and adolescents.

American Culture Center for Sport receives U.S. State Department grant

December 22, 2016

For the 5th consecutive year, the U.S. State Department will support the American Culture Center (ACC) for Sport in China administrated by the University of Minnesota. From September 2016 until August 2017, the funding will be $75,000 to Li Li Ji, Ph.D., professor and director of the School of Kinesiology, the PI of the grant.

The ACC focuses on the introduction and promotion of sport as an American heritage and value. The main activities include on-campus, year-round programs and featured lecture tours that visit various Chinese universities.

In January 2017, Ji, Zan Gao, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Lab, and Gregory Welk, Ph.D., associate professor of health promotion and exercise at Iowa State University, will visit four universities. The goal is to introduce how mobile devices are being used to promote physical activity on U.S. campuses.

Kinesiology doctoral student Kim to publish in Korean Journal of Sociology of Sport

December 19, 2016

Young Ho Kim, Ph.D. student in the School of Kinesiology, has had a paper accepted for publication in the Korean Journal of Sociology of Sport. The paper, “Conceptualization and Analysis of Interpretative Perspectives of Sport Corruption Through Literature Review: Agreement and Difference,” examines how sport corruption is conceptualized and analyzes the different interpretative perspectives of sport corruption in certain sport organizations and society. In order to conceptualize sport corruption, prefigured technical strategy, an analysis strategy discussed by Crabtree and Miller (1992), was used. Prefigured categories are classified as competition sport corruption and management sport corruption, discussed by Maenning (2006). In order to analyze how types of sport corruption in the prefigured categories are interpreted differently in sport organizations and society, Luo’s (2004) characteristics of corruption was used as a theoretical frame.

Young is advised by Michael G. Wade, Ph.D., and Rayla Allison, JD.

Stoffregen co-authors article in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

December 15, 2016

The research study “Perceiving nested affordances for another person’s actions” co-authored by Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL), has been accepted for publication in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

The other co-authors are:

Dr. Jeffrey Wagman, Illinois State University
Jiuyang Bai, Ph.D. Student at Illinois State University
Daniel Schloesser, Masters Student at Illinois State University

Postural sway research published in PLOS ONE

December 15, 2016

The research study “The rim and the ancient mariner: The nautical horizon affects postural sway in older adults,” co-authored by School of Kinesiology’s Thomas Stoffregen, Ph.D., director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL), and Michael Wade, Ph.D., has been published in the widely read science journal, PLOS ONE.

The other co-authors are:

Justin Munafo, APAL grad student and Ph.D. candidate
Dr. Nick Stergiou, University of Nebraska at Omaha

The article reports research that was conducted aboard the Semester at Sea, a sea voyage that traveled from Nassau to Santo Domingo. Read the full article here.

Sport Finance students present to Beyond Walls staff and board members

December 13, 2016

Students in Dr. Yuhei Inoue‘s KIN 5421 Sport Finance class presented their final Revenue Generation Projects to three staff members of the non-profit organization Beyond Walls: Jazmin Danielson, Executive Director; Sammy Loeks-Davis, Program Director; and Karen VanderBosch, Board Member. Each group presented research and recommendations about how the organization can spread awareness for its campaign and build revenue.

Beyond Walls is a program that supports students in finding and graduating from their best-fit post-secondary pursuit using squash, academics, mentoring and life skills development. Their goal is to become a Twin Cities leader in promoting academic excellence, healthy lifestyles, and access to meaningful opportunities for all youth.

Konczak receives Visiting Professorship Award from Technical University of Munich

December 13, 2016

Jürgen Konczak, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology, has received an appointment as 2017 Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). TUM is one of Germany’s premier science institutions, comparable in scope to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. The TUM visiting professorship is awarded to scientists with an outstanding international reputation to promote intensive collaborations with TUM researchers.

As part of the professorship, Konczak will join the prestigious TUM Institute of Advanced Studies as an Honorary Fellow and is expected to give lectures to students, faculty and the university community. In addition, he will join the research team of Dr. Hermsdörfer in TUM’s Department of Movement and Health Sciences. The award provides the funds for Dr. Konczak’s stay in Munich and he will join the TUM faculty during the summer months in 2017.

Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory researchers publish in Journal of Sport and Health Science and Preventive Medicine

December 12, 2016

Doctoral students Nan Zeng, Zachary Pope, June Lee, and associate professor Zan Gao, Ph.D., from the School of Kinesiology, recently published an article titled “A systematic review of active video games on rehabilitative outcomes among older patients” in Journal of Sport and Health Science. Mr. Zeng is the lead author on the article. The study systematically reviewed literature, summarized findings, and evaluated the effectiveness of Active Video Games (AVGs) as a therapeutic tool in improving physical, psychological, and cognitive rehabilitative outcomes among older adults with chronic diseases. The study found AVGs have potential in rehabilitation for older patients, though more research is warranted to make more definitive conclusions.

In addition, Zachary Pope published “The effects of active video games on patients’ rehabilitative outcomes: A meta-analysis” recently in Preventive Medicine. Co-authors are Nan Zeng and Zan Gao, Ph.D. The review examined the effectiveness of active video games in rehabilitation settings. When compared to traditional rehabilitation methods, findings indicated active video games to have a large positive effect on balance control in youth/young adults and a moderate positive effect on older adults’ falls efficacy. More research is needed, however, particularly as pertains to the use of active video gaming in cognitive rehabilitation.

Pope awarded SHAPE America’s 2017 Research Council Graduate Student Research Award

December 12, 2016

Zachary Pope, Ph.D. student and graduate assistant in the School of Kinesiology, was awarded a 2017 Research Council Graduate Student Research Award by SHAPE America for his project, “Validity of Smartwatches in Assessing Energy Expenditure and Heart Rate.” Pope is advised by Zan Gao, Ph.D., associate professor of physical activity and health in Kinesiology.

The Graduate Student Research Award is given to an outstanding author and presenter of a research program for the SHAPE America national convention. The award is intended to recognize and encourage graduate student scholarship. Pope also was awarded a SHAPE America Graduate Student Grant in 2015 for his research project, “Promoting Physical Activity through Smartphone Apps in Overweight/Obese College Students.”

CEHD News Kinesiology

CEHD News Kinesiology