CEHD’s First-Gen Institute awards six microgrants for the 2024-25 academic year

September 3, 2024

With the generous support of the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Graduate School, the First-Gen Institute has awarded six microgrants in support of first-generation college and graduate students for the 2024-25 academic year. Microgrants are an opportunity for members of the Twin Cities campus community to be awarded funding to support and advocate for the success and persistence of undergraduate and graduate first-generation students. Please join us in congratulating the faculty, staff, and students who have received this award this year.

The awardees are:

Amanda Niskode-Dossett & Kristin Farrell; Agency Building and Career Decision-Making Seminar: Exploring Majors and Building Connections as a FG Student
Denise Felder; Networking Mixers & Career Connections: Building Social Capital for CEHD First Gen Students
Jessica Lopez Lyman; Chicana/Latina, Indigenous Women and Gender Non-Conforming Students, Faculty and Staff Group
Nathan Jacobson, Scott Daby & True Xiong; Promoting First Generation Student Participation in Learning Abroad
Ekomobong Eyoh; Expansion of Specific Programming for First Gen Students in the NextGen Psych Scholars
Roslyn Englund; Mechanical Engineering First Generation Students & Graduate School Persistence

What is the First-Gen Institute?

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is home to a significant first-generation student community, with approximately 24 percent of undergraduate students and 20 percent of graduate students reporting that they are the first in their family to earn a degree from a 4-year college or university.

The First-Gen Institute uses research and evidence based practices to create spaces for professional development of higher education faculty and staff. The goal is to increase access and success for first-generation college students, graduate students, FG employees, and faculty across higher education initiatives and programs. Through intentionally curated training, professional development, and curricula, the FG Institute de-constructs structural and historical constraints and creates more equitable sites of belonging that recognize the capital of this new majority of students on campus. A critical question it seeks to explore is not whether students are ready for college but how institutions are preparing to be student-ready for the future workforce of the state and nation.

Greising presents at the Orthopaedic Research Society Annual Meeting

February 7, 2024

Sarah M. Greising, PhD, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Skeletal Muscle Plasticity and Regeneration Laboratory (SMPRL), attended and presented research at the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) Annual Meeting. The meeting was held in Long Beach, CA, over February 2-6, 2024. The primary goal of this meeting is accelerating musculoskeletal discovery. Dr. Greising presented a poster titled, “In Sequence Anti-fibrotic Treatment And Rehabilitation For Volumetric Muscle Loss Injury.” Contributions to the work included lab member and current medical student Peter Nicholson and other members of the lab Christiana Raymond-Pope, PhD, and Thomas Lillquist, MS, as well as collaborator Jarrod Call, PhD, from the University of Georgia.

Additionally, Dr. Greising, in collaboration with her fellow member of the ORS Women’s Leadership Forum, organized and participated in a career development session titled, “Pearls for navigating career transitions, across career stages”. Collectively, all sessions supported by the Women’s Leadership Forum are developed to mentor, foster, encourage, and inspire women in orthopaedic research at all stages of their career, and to advise and support women on career and leadership opportunities in orthopaedic-related organizations.

Lundstrom Quoted Regarding Minnesota Marathoner Qualifying for Olympic Games

February 7, 2024

Christopher Lundstrom, PhD, a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science in the School of Kinesiology and instructor of the Marathon Training course in the physical activity program, was quoted in an MPRNews article as the coach of marathon athlete Dakotah Lindwurm. Lindwurm is the first Minnesotan to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team. She placed 3rd in the Olympic Trials race in Orlando, Florida on February 3rd, 2024, and will be competing in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Lundstrom is the head coach of the marathon training group Minnesota Distance Elite, of which Lindwurm is a member. “It’s pretty magical,” said Lundstrom. “Lots of people, regardless of what sport you’re in, have Olympic dreams and she’s somebody who had that since she was a kid. To see it all come together and to be able to be a part of it, it’s all still kind of sinking in, I think. But it’s really just an incredible feeling.”

Stoffregen co-authors article published to Frontiers

February 6, 2024

Tom Stoffregen, PhD, professor of perceptual-motor control and learning in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL), was recently a co-author on an article with Chih-Hui Chang, PhD, a former doctoral student of the School of Kinesiology. The article, titled, “Effects of decades of physical driving experience on pre-exposure postural precursors of motion sickness among virtual passengers,” was published in Frontiers in Virtual Reality. The article examines the relationship between real life driving experience and postural precursors to motion sickness in virtual settings, finding that real life experience affected the postural precursors, but not the motion sickness itself.

LaVoi and Goorevich publish article in Sport Coaching Review

February 1, 2024

Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport and senior lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, and Anna Goorevich, MSc, doctoral student and researcher with the Tucker Center, co-authored a book chapter titled, “Essentially different or equally the same: uncovering sport coach discourses about coaching girls,” in Sport Coaching Review. Goorevich & LaVoi used survey data to identify a continuum of different discourses coaches possess about the girls they coach. Gender essentialist stereotypes of perceived differences between girls and boys, and gender-blind/neutral comments which erased gendered experiences were the most common discourses. Gender-sensitive discourses were less common, but have potential to disrupt gendered norms in sport. Based on the data, coach discourses often positioned girls as different and deficient or overlooked the salience of gendered structures in sport.

Portrait of Anna Goorevich — Anna Goorevich

LaVoi co-authors book chapter with doctoral student Anna Goorevich

January 26, 2024

This chapter questions common ideas about women in sports coaching, aiming to break down barriers to gender equality. It talks about harmful beliefs, explains their impact, and suggests new ideas, using research to support ways to empower women in coaching for greater influence.

Antunovic co-authors book chapter with alumna Annika Olson

January 25, 2024

Dunja Antunovic smiling — Dunja Antunovic

Dunja Antunovic, Ph.D., assistant professor of sport sociology in the School of Kinesiology published a co-authored book chapter with Annika Olson, sport management and honors program alumna. The chapter, titled, “Gender and diversity in mediated sport marketing: Using ‘old’ and ‘new’ media,” is featured in the Research Handbook on Gender and Diversity in Sports Management (eds. Pirkko Markula and Annelies Knoppers).

Dengel presents to Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation Group

January 25, 2024

Donald R. Dengel, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology (LIHP), spoke to the International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation Minnesota/Western Wisconsin Support Group on January 18, 2024. The title of Dr. Dengel’s talk was “Designing Effective Exercise Programs For Waldenstrom’s Patients”.

Dengel writes blog on Soft Tissue-to-Bone Ratio

January 25, 2024

Donald R. Dengel, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology (LIHP), is the author of a recent blog post titled “What Is the Soft Tissue-To-Bone Ratio?” In this blog Dr. Dengel describes recent research from his laboratory on a body composition measure termed the soft tissue-to-bone ratio (SBR). The SBR is determined by dividing the soft tissue masses (i.e., lean mass + fat mass) by bone mass and may be useful in analyzing body composition in athletes. In addition, recent research from Dr. Dengel’s laboratory suggests that the SBR may also provide insight to the development of cardiovascular risk. This blog explores what the SBR is, and its importance.

Read the full blog feature: https://www.dexalytics.com/news/what-soft-tissue-bone-ratio/

Barr-Anderson publishes on prediabetes in adolescents

January 3, 2024

Daheia Barr-Anderson, PhD, associate professor of Physical Activity and Health Promotion in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Behavioral Physical Activity Laboratory (BPAL), had a paper accepted for publication in the journal, Childhood Obesity. This work is in collaboration with colleagues from Cornell and UMN, and titled, “Diet and physical activity by prediabetes status among U.S. adolescents: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007-2018.” The main findings support the need for diabetes prevention interventions to target specific food groups and encourage physical activity as adolescents with diabetes reported less than optimal nutritional intake and physical activity compared to adolescents without prediabetes.

Stoffregen quoted in MarketWatch article

December 28, 2023

Tom Stoffregen, PhD, professor of perceptual-motor control and learning in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL), was recently quoted in a MarketWatch article about first time flying tips by Bradford Cuthrell, titled, “A Guide for First-Time Flyers: What To Expect and How To Prepare.” Stoffregen lent advice for managing flight anxiety and motion sickness, recommending that travelers stick to bland foods and clear liquids.

Dengel inducted into Academies for Excellence

December 22, 2023

Don R. Dengel, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology (LIHP), has been inducted into the University of Minnesota’s Academies for Excellence in Team Science. The award was given to a team of University of Minnesota researchers for facilitating research to discover new treatments that improve the physical and emotional health of children who are affected by obesity and obesity-related conditions.

Antunovic gives keynote speech at women and sport conference in Zagreb, Croatia

December 21, 2023

Dunja Antunovic, PhD, assistant professor of sport sociology in the School of Kinesiology, was the keynote speaker at the International Scientific Conference on the Role of Sport in Society in Zagreb, Croatia on December 15-16, 2023. The conference focused specifically on women, sport, and social change.

Antunovic’s presentation was titled “Gender Representations in Sport Media: Problems and Opportunities.”

The conference was hosted by the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Studies and the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Zagreb in Croatia. Antunovic previously collaborated with University of Zagreb faculty member, Sunčica Bartoluci, on studies that examine Olympic media coverage in the Central and Eastern European region.

Hawe and Guy receive Data Science Initiative Seed Grant

December 21, 2023

Rachel Hawe, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the NeuroRehabilitation Across the Lifespan (NeuRAL) Laboratory, and Stephen Guy, PhD, associate professor in Computer Science and Engineering, received a $77,000 seed grant from the UMN Data Science Initiative. Their project, titled “Data-driven Metrics for Upper-Limb Motor Assessment in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders” aims to leverage modern advances in informatics, data science, and computer vision to establish novel, data-driven techniques for analyzing and assessing upper limb movements. The project will include expanding their data set of reaching strategies in typically developing children collected using markerless motion capture and augment reality games at the State Fair, and applying their analysis to three clinical populations- cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, and developmental coordination disorder. The overall goal of this work is to enable the identification of specific motor impairments, which will facilitate the diagnosis of movement limitations, inform personalized rehabilitation, and lead to improved outcomes.

Antunovic contributes to UBC’s Mobilizing Sport and Sustainability Collective

December 20, 2023

Dunja Antunovic, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Media Analysis Research in International Sport (MARIS) research group, recently contributed to an explainer video for the University of British Columbia on October 20, 2023 titled “Gender Equality in Sport Media.” The video was in collaboration with the Mobilizing Sport and Sustainability Collective, which operates in association with the UBC Centre for Sport and Sustainability (CSS), working to explain the current principles of gender equality in sport media.

Hogue speaks at Stanford Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Seminar Series

December 14, 2023

Candace M. Hogue, PhD, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology, presented at Stanford University’s Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Seminar Series on December 8th. In her talk, “How leader behaviors and mental skills training can help athletes thrive psychologically and physiologically,” Hogue summarized her research on how a caring and mastery-focused coaching climate and mental skills training can help athletes better manage performance stress. She also advocated for greater funding to support research on girls and women in sport.

Ann Masten wins University of Louisville Grawemeyer $100k psychology award

December 6, 2023

Ann Masten, PhD, Regents Professor in the Institute of Child Development (ICD), has received the 2024 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Psychology for her landmark body of work that identified “ordinary magic” as a contributor to resilience in children.

Over the course of Masten’s career in resilience science, which began in the 1970s, she has uncovered adaptive processes and factors that support the ability of individuals to overcome adversity and harmful experiences.

“As I studied children and families dealing with war, disasters, poverty, violence and homelessness, I found a consistent set of surprisingly ordinary but powerful factors at work,” Masten said in a release announcing her award. “Resilience didn’t depend on special qualities but on a capacity to adapt that we develop over time as we are nurtured, learn and gain experience.”

Some of the factors Masten coined as “ordinary magic” that encourage resiliency include supportive relationships, a sense of belonging, self-control, problem-solving skills, optimism, motivation, and a sense of purpose.

The Grawemeyer awards were created in 1984 with a donation from Kentucky entrepreneur H. Charles Grawemeyer. They honor seminal ideas in music composition, education, religion, psychology and improving world order, emphasizing the impact a single idea can have on the world. The award comes with a $100,00 prize.

Nicholaus Noles, the director of the psychology award at the University of Louisville, noted that Masten’s findings have shaped policy and practice in many fields outside psychology, including pediatrics, school counseling, social work, and disaster response. More than 40,000 people from 180+ countries have enrolled in Masten’s online course about resilience of children in war and disaster.

To read a Star Tribune article on Masten’s award, click here.

Dengel writes blog on muscle-to-bone ratio by football position in NFL players

December 5, 2023

Don Dengel, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology (LIHP), is the author of a recent blog post titled “The Muscle-to-Bone Ratio in NFL Players By Position-Part II.” This is the second in a two-part blog series that examined the muscle-to-bone ratio (MBR) determined using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in National League Football Players (NFL). The first blog compared total as well as regional measures of MBR in NFL players to a healthy male control group. While this second blog examined total as well as regional MBR in the NFL players by position. The NFL players were into one of nine position categories: defensive backs (DB: n=64), defensive lineman (DL: n=47), linebackers (LB: n=48), offensive lineman (OL: n=38), quarterbacks (QB: n=21), running backs (RB: n=29), tight ends (TE: n=27) and wide receivers (WR: n=55). Punters and place kickers were combined into one category named punters/kickers (PK: n=17). Although no differences in total MBR were noted across position leg MBR varied greatly among NFL players by position. It is possible that regional differences in MBR in the NFL players may be related to the demands of that position.

To read the full blog go to: https://www.dexalytics.com/news/the-muscle-to-bone-ratio-in-nfl-players-by-positio/

Greising contributes to publication in Scientific Reports

November 27, 2023

Sarah M. Greising, PhD, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Skeletal Muscle Plasticity and Regeneration Laboratory (SMPRL), contributed to a collaborative manuscript published in Scientific Reports titled, “Development of a proteomic signature associated with severe disease for patients with COVID-19 using data from 5 multicenter, randomized, controlled, and prospective studies.” The collaborative work is co-authored by colleagues across the University of Minnesota and overseen by Christopher Tignanelli, MD.

Dr. Kringle publishes chapter in Kielhofner’s Research in Occupational Therapy

November 26, 2023

Portrait image of Dr. Emily Kringle in light blue design top with blue blazer

Emily Kringle, PhD, OTR/L, Assistant Professor of Physical Activity and Health Promotion in the School of Kinesiology and Director of the Disability and WELLness Laboratory (DWELL), is the lead author on a chapter in the 3rd Edition of Kielhofner’s Research in Occupational Therapy: Methods of Inquiry for Enhancing Practice, edited by Renee R. Taylor. The chapter, titled “Obtaining Funding for Your Research: Writing Your First Grant Proposal” focuses on the role of grant support in occupational therapy research and the process of developing a research idea into a fundable grant proposal. This chapter was authored in collaboration with Catherine Hoyt, PhD, OTD, OTR/L (Washington University in St. Louis), Angela Caldwell, PhD, OTR/L (University of Pittsburgh), and Jaclyn Schwartz, PhD, OTR/L (Washington University in St. Louis).

CEHD News Faculty & Staff

CEHD News Faculty & Staff