Contact

To learn more about my internship experience at UMass, contact me at yutasuzuki@msn.com











To learn more about opportunities in the Kinesiology Department at UMass, contact Aurora Foster at arougeau@umass.edu











To get involved with research at Westfield State University and/or UMass, contact Melissa Roti at mroti@westfield.ma.edu

Institute for Applied Life Sciences

The Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) was established in 2014 to translate multi-disciplinary research into product candidates, technologies, and services that benefit human health and well-being. The Human Testing Center is one of the many centers within IALS and comprises of five facilities: Exercise Intervention & Outcomes, Human Motion, Living Science, Room Calorimeter, and Sleep Monitoring. The human testing center allows for comprehensive investigation of physiological, biomechanical, and behavioral studies.
 https://www.umass.edu/ials/sites/default/files/facilities/humanTesting_brochure.pdf

Human Testing Center Director: Michael "Mike" Busa

Education

From the University of Portland, Mike received a Bachelors of Science in Engineering Management. Mike then took time to focus on road bicycle racing as a job for five years where he met Stephen McGregor, a high level cycling coach and professor at Eastern Michigan University. Stephen McGregor applied models and principles from high level endurance training to walking and running locomotion in his research. With Mike's mathematical background, he joined Stephen at Eastern Michigan University as a masters student studying Exercise Physiology. Mike continued his education at UMass as a doctoral student, working with Richard Van Emmerik in the Biomechanics/ Motor Control lab. His doctoral dissertation involved building and testing a biomedical device to try to improve peripheral sensory function in people with sensory loss. Mike was approached to direct the Human Testing Center towards the end of his doctoral degree and beginning of his post doctoral fellowships in biomechanics and in physical activity monitoring. Towards the end of his post doctoral fellowship, plans for IALS cemented.

"I really like the ability to design experiments and ask questions to find the true answer of what I'm looking at, whether its testing if a device works or finding ways to evaluate specific disease populations...but I also like the idea of translating those findings quickly to the public"

Current Position

As director of the Human Testing Center, Mike's work lies in between both industry and research. Much of his work consists of validating wearable technologies for industry partners. Mike designs experiments, and pushes the technologies to give the best indication of how they perform. By testing the capabilities of devices, he is able to determine if they perform well or not, and to find the best use for these devices. 

In general, Mike works with pharmaceutical companies who want to monitor people during clinical trials and find devices that will provide the companies with the right information at the right time for special populations.

Considering Mike's experience in biomechanics, physiology, and behavioral sciences, he has the ability to work in each of those areas. Depending on the specifics of a particular question, Mike may work alongside a collaborator in a project.

"A lot of the studies that I conduct and am interested in revolve around strong teams"

Careers

Mike spoke about jobs within athletic gear space, manufacturing soft and hard sports apparel and equipment. Large companies like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armor for example have large operations that test manufactured goods within their own facilities. Smaller companies like New Balance and Brooks will contract universities to conduct tests on their equipment. 

Students with Masters degrees in biomechanics have gone on to direct the gait lab in Shriners Hospital for Children (Springfield, MA) and the pediatric gait lab in MassGeneral Hospital for Children (Boston, MA). Students may go on to be technical reps for motion capture camera companies or athletic shoe companies like New Balance as well. 

Others from the kinesiology department have gone on to work for the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM). The USARIEM is the Department of Defense's leading laboratory for the performance and health of warfighters and focuses on environmental stimulation, physiological and cognitive performance, and nutrition research.
To learn more about USARIEM, explore https://www.usariem.army.mil/index.cfm/about. 

To learn more about the Human Testing Center, explore https://www.umass.edu/ials/ch2p

Motor Systems

Motor Control Laboratory

Directed by Dr. Richard Van Emmerik, the Motor Control lab is interested in motor control and its relation with human posture and locomotion. The lab particularly focuses on mechanisms of stability and adaptability in movement coordination. 

Doctoral Candidate: Avelino Amado

Education & Projects

Avelino has been a longtime member of the Kinesiology department at UMass starting as an undergraduate student who later moved on to attend graduate school at the Masters and now at the Doctorate level. During his time as an undergrad, Avelino was a member of the UMass Amherst Marching Band. He wondered how he and other band members were able to maintain posture while walking and carrying large instruments, as other people without experience had difficulty doing so. Avelino was intrigued by the human body's ability to adapt to stimuli and maintain posture while walking, spurring the creation of his Masters thesis. This idea was transformed into understanding the neuromotor process behind teaching older adults to dribble two basketballs with both hands simultaneously. Avelino wanted to study a topic related to walking that was more applicable for his Doctoral disseratation.

While at a restaurant, Avelino noticed a waiter walking across the room holding a stack of plates and wondered how the waiter was able to maintain his balance of both his body and the plates in his hand. Eventually, he decided to use this question as his doctoral dissertation because it was very applicable. Hands tend to be involved with walking as older adults often fall with objects in their hands. Avelino was able to discover a question inspired by his own observations in his life, but was unable to find answers to his question.

"When I kept not being able to find answers, I realized that I found a very big gap in the literature because when you start talking about things at that level, you have to involve the whole body"

Here is a video submission of his dissertaion to the International Society of Biomechanics in Sport National Biomechanics Day 2-minute-tweet competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv8Y210zE7o

Applicability

Avelino chose a functional task for his doctoral dissertation to increase the applicability of his studies into other related fields like robotics and clinical therapy. In order to design a humanoid robot that can walk and hold objects in its hand, mechanisms behind that action must be understood. Since the older adult population is growing, it is important to understand how activities of daily living affect whole body movements to reduce the risk of falls.

Careers

The American Association for Advancing Science (AAA) offers PhD students a fellowship opportunity to work in news outlets as science communicators. Graduate students can be involved in science policy which ultimately dictates the capabilities of science and research. 

Avelino co-authored this article published by the Boston Globe explaining how federal budget cuts restrict research and community education efforts. The article discusses how cuts in federal funding will reduce educational involvement with communities as well as limit resources of museums and libraries. 

 https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/05/31/budget-cuts-threaten-community-work-graduate-students/AN0thJ3rixdnSjOW4zehPI/story.html

Avelino initially considered working in Academia, but changed his mind due to the demands of the job. Professor and lecturer positions at universities are dependent on university job openings and are sporadic. Avalino prefers to have the freedom of choosing where to live. As a PhD candidate, Avelino noticed that the amount of PhD students graduating is far more than the amount of jobs open for PhD graduates. For graduates uninterested in following the route of Academia, Avelino hopes to provide professional guidance.

To learn more about the Motor Control lab, explore https://www.umass.edu/motorcontrol/members.html

Biomechanics Laboratory

Directed by Dr. Katherine Boyer and Dr. Graham Caldwell, the Biomechanics lab conducts studies on the fundamental and clinical aspects of human locomotion through the application of mechanical principles and scientific methodology. Research in the lab focuses on three major areas: lower extremity mechanics during locomotion; muscle mechanics and modeling; computer simulations of human movement. 

Equipment identified from left to right: 19x Qualisys Oqus 3-Series cameras; Instrumented (force-measuring treadmill); Biodex System 4 dynamometer; Woodway treadmill; Instrumented (force- and position-measuring) bicycle pedal.

Doctoral Candidate: Russell Johnson
Education

Russell graduated from Springfield College with a Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science. He was first introduced to lab work at Springfield College, assisting in research that utilized electromyographies (EMG). Russell then moved on to attend UMass for a Kinesiology Masters degree in the Biomechanics lab and then transitioned into his Doctoral program in which he is working to finish.

Current Project 

Russell is particularly interested in biomechanical determinants of human locomotion, studying how and why humans walk the way they do. 

"I am interested in how and why we walk the way we do, understanding the components that influence the gait pattern"

For his Masters thesis, he studied to better understand the determinants for the amounts of energy muscles consume during the walking gait. With this, he discovered that humans choose certain walking patterns that minimize the amount of energy expended/ energy consumed by muscles. 

Closely extending off of Russel's Masters thesis is his doctoral dissertation which is centered on the influence of instructions effect the way people choose to move. 

"People generally want to move with the least amount of energy possible, but if you give them a task to do, they want to get the task done first even if it costs more energy"

Future and Careers

After completing his Doctorate degree at UMass, Russell plans to become a postdoctoral fellow at The University of Southern California in order to further develop his research skills to prepare himself for a faculty position in academia.

Within biomechanics there many opportunities outside of academia including Industry positions. Sports companies hire biomechanists to do research on their apparel, shoes or equipment. 

Sports teams hire biomechanists, typically in baseball to analyse players and reduce risk of injury. Forensic biomechanists evaluate how injuries occur in accidents, most often in car crashes. When a court case is involved with the accident, there is typically a forensic biomechanist to give an expert testimony regarding the forces that may or may not have injured the person. 

Lastly, biomechanist are able to work in ergonomics to design and organize a work place in order to reduce energy expenditure as well as reduce risk of injury, typically within warehouses. 

To learn more about the Biomechanics lab, explore https://www.umass.edu/biomechanics/

Locomotion Neuromechanics Laboratory

Directed by Dr. Julia Choi, the Locomotion Neuromechanics lab is interested in understanding the principles of motor learning and neuroplasticity, the brains ability to reorganize synaptic connections in response to learning. Part of The Department of Kinesiology and Neuroscience and Behavior Program at UMass, the lab collaborates with researchers in neuroscience, biomechanics, rehabilitation, engineering and robotics to connect ideas across multiple viewpoints. 

Doctoral Student: Sumire Sato

Education (Doctor of Physical Therapy)

Sumire studied Human Physiology at Boston University and continued to go to Emory University in

Atlanta, Georgia for Physical Therapy (PT) school as she was deeply interested in human anatomy. PT school was the most intensive three academic years Sumire has experienced with classes from 8 am-5 pm, additional research and studying.

At PT school, Sumire experienced work within the different realms of PT, orthopedic physical therapy, inpatient care, and outpatient care. She disliked how orthopedic therapy similar to outpatient care were both service oriented and highly competitive, giving patients the choice to choose their preferred therapist. Insurance billing became an issue that complicated rehabilitation treatment for outpatient care and orthopedic rehabilitation settings. Through the repeated treatment of lower back pain, knee and ankle injuries, Sumire became uninterested in treatment of outpatients. Patients with additional complications who are usually admitted from a doctor's order are sent to inpatient care. Inpatient physical therapists work in hospitals alongside physicians and nurses to determine if the patient is physically capable enough to independently move in their homes.

During a neural rehabilitation rotation at PT school, Sumire realized that there was a lack of research within the field of PT. The intervention used to treat neural injuries were not evidence based, pushing her to explore the processes behind neural rehabilitation and adaptation.

"Right now, physical therapy rehabilitation intervention used to treat neural injuries are not evidence based, and neural processes are not understood"

Sumire transferred her interest in neural rehab from PT school to UMass as a Doctoral student in the neuroscience department.

Current Project

Sumire is currently studying the changes in corticospinal drive with a split belt treadmill in older individuals. A split belt treadmill is a treadmill split in half with the ability of each belt to move at different speeds. The two belts moving at different speeds induce adaptions to occur in the nervous system. Older adults who are otherwise healthy have an increased risk for falls. Sumire is proposing that difficulty adapting to the split belt treadmill is due to complications with corticospinal

activation in older adults.

Future

Sumire is concerned with doing research at the moment but is considering contributing her research to PT, conducting research on non-evidence based intervention.

To learn more about the Locomotion Neuromechanics lab, explore https://blogs.umass.edu/jtchoi/

Physiology

Muscle Biophysics Laboratory

Directed by Dr. Edward (Ned) Debold, the Muscle Biophysics lab focuses on identifying the root molecular mechanisms of muscular fatigue and heart disease. Whole muscle movements are ultimately derived from nano-scale motions of a muscle's motor enzyme, myosin at the molecular level. Myosin generates force and motion while strongly bound to actin powered by ATP hydrolysis. Advances in single molecule biophysical techniques have provided researchers with the ability to directly observe these nano-meter scale motions of myosin, offering unprecedented insight into the molecular function of muscle. These advances are also helping to reveal the root molecular causes of muscle dysfunction such as heart failure and muscular fatigue. 

A three-bead single molecule laser trap assay. An actin filament attached to two glass beads held in optical traps are brought into contact with a third bead sparsely coated with myosin.

To learn more about the Muscle Biophysics lab, explore https://www.umass.edu/musclebiophy/index.html

Muscle Physiology Laboratory

Directed by Dr. Mark Miller, the Muscle Biology lab conducts research on single muscle fibers at the cellular level and examines the effects on the body at the whole muscle level. The lab is conducting research on sex-specific counter measures with different exercise interventions to prevent age related decreases in muscle performance regarding each sex. In order to find sex-specific counter measures from exercise interventions, biopsies are performed to extract bundles of muscle fibers. Single muscle fibers are then removed from the bundle and examined using advanced engineering methods to measure muscle function at the cellular level.

Process in which a single muscle fiber is attained and measured: 1) Biopsie is conducted on the thigh; 2) Muscle bundle is organized and dissected; 3) Single fiver is extracted from bundle and T-clips are attached; 4) Fiber is set on hooks; 5) Fiber is measured 

Assistant Professor: Mark Miller

Education

With plans to become an astronaut, Mark
Miller received a Bachelors of Science and Masters of Science in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado. After graduating from the University of Colorado, Miller worked at NASA-Ames Research Center as an Engineering Intern in Moffett Field, California and then NASA-Johnson Space Center as a Visiting Researcher in Houston, Texas. While working at the NASA facilities, he noticed the lack of people that combined biology and engineering at that point in time. Miller attended the University of Vermont to complete his Doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering, with research focusing on locomotor activity of fruit flies during microgravity and hypergravity exposure. With his experience working with animal and fly tissue, Miller decided to apply his knowledge into human tissue as a post-doctoral fellow, assisting in research at the University of Vermont. Miller began his work as Assistant Professor at UMass Amherst in 2014 and is currently working to attain academic tenure.

Current Position

As an Associate Professor, Miller writes and applies for grants in order to fund the research and to pay students (doctoral, masters, undergraduate research assistants) post-docs, and himself. On top of writing for grants, Miller teaches graduate level courses, provides service to the community, and hosts an undergraduate intern. The undergraduate intern has been working under Miller in the Muscle Biology Laboratory starting from freshman year. From experience in the lab, the intern has received a "Rising Researcher Honor", and had opportunities over the past few summers as a payed-researcher.

"Many people that come into the lab don't have the wet lab experience and haven't looked through microscopes all day. That's something you either like or don't like"

UMass, similar to most other universities pays nine months of Miller's salary to teach, interact with students, and provide a service to the community. The other three months of the year in the summer are payed through "soft money" which is money compensated through obtained grants. In order to receive tenure at UMass, he must graduate enough graduate students from the Muscle Biology Laboratory, and apply for enough grants in a certain amount of time.

Doctoral Student: Aurora Foster

Education

Aurora spent one year at Mount Holyoke College and transferred to the UMass Amherst to pursue a
Kinesiology degree. As an undergraduate student at UMass, Aurora was involved as a research assistant and teaching assistant both in which, she enjoyed doing. These positions on top of her curiosity, were the factors that led Aurora to further her education to the graduate level. 

"The reason I got into this position was because of exposure...I definitely made an effort to get to know the people in the department"

After three years at UMass, Aurora graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology and a minor in Psychology. In the beginning stages of Aurora's Masters education, she was the primary contributor to the start-up of the Muscle Biology Lab as the first graduate student under Miller. Aurora's Masters thesis explored the mechanisms of skeletal muscle fatigue in skeletal fibers of older men and women, and the fatigue-mitigating effects of dATP. At the beginning of 2019, she completed her Master's degree. Currently as a graduate student, Aurora assists in general lab upkeep, oversees undergraduate research and teaching assistants, and collects data for large government grants acquired by Miller as well as for her own studies. Aurora is also a teaching associate, directing entire courses and has developed and taught an online course alongside a university lecturer. Aurora is now in the beginning stages of attaining her doctorate degree.

Future & Careers

After completing her doctorate degree from UMass, Aurora hopes to become an instructor at the university level to be academically involved with undergraduate students and less  involved with research. 

Science policy was of particular interest for Aurora as well. Science policy is an area of public policy that effects the rules and regulations of science and research. Communication in this regard is essential in order to translate science research to policy makers and to make sense of policies to scientists. Aurora hopes to use her acquired critical thinking, writing, and presenting skills from graduate school to influence public policy for the physical well being of the general public.

Project Coordinator: Caroline Pellegrini 

Education

Caroline originally started off as a Biology major at UMass Amherst, but switched to Kinesiology after realizing she wanted to study the human body at a whole body level. While pursuing her Kinesiology degree as an undergraduate student, Public Policy was of particular interest to Caroline, as she enjoys using her coordinating and administrative skills to help people at a larger scale. Caroline graduated from UMass with a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology. 

Current Position

Caroline works full-time as the Project Coordinator for the Muscle Biology Laboratory. As the project coordinator, she recruits participants, schedules appointments, and conducts exercise training sessions three times a week for sixteen weeks. During the recruiting process, Caroline advertises the study to participants via fliers and social media and screens participants to ensure suitability. Caroline schedules the four pre-visits, sixteen weeks of exercise training, and three post-visits consisting of MRI scans, DEXA scans, blood draws, and biopsies. Along with scheduling, she coordinates with the Physical Activity and Health Lab to put protocols together for undergraduates to analyze data. Safety precautions and motivational factors are considered during each exercise training session. On exercise training days the participants warm up for five minutes on a bike to perform three exercises, leg press, leg extension, and leg flexion. Each leg is trained differently for each participant, making each participant their own control subject. One leg lifts heavy weights (80% 1RM) slowly for three sets of eight, with the other leg lifting lighter weights (40% 1RM) quickly for three sets of sixteen. The hypothesis is that women will respond better to power training and men will will respond better to strength training.

Future
Caroline is using this experience to figure out what she likes in future careers for herself. She has no strict plans for the future and considers herself someone who is interested in a lot of different things which is why she enjoys working as a Project Coordinator. Currently, Caroline is applying to a few other Project Coordinator positions.

"I like the idea of being able to get creative and market things but also still be in an athletic environment".

In the future, Caroline hopes to pursue a Masters Degree in Public Administration, Public Policy, or Kinesiology.

Laboratory Technician: Anudeep Jala

Education

Anudeep graduated from the honors program at UMass with a Bachelors of Science in Biology and two minors in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. As an undergraduate student, Anudeep was
involved in a Biology lab in which he didn't enjoy due to the individualized-nature of work. He transferred over to the Muscle Biology lab and has enjoyed the teamwork required between lab members and with other kinesiology labs.

"I've come to appreciate research so much more because I realized the depth within research but also the teamwork involved between kinesiology labs as well as other professionals like MRI technicians, and physicians."

Current Position
As a Laboratory Technician, Anudeep is a full time employee under the lab and his role is heavily dependent on his wet lab skills, directly working with the muscle fibers and solution in which it is settled in. Before he can perform his job, another technician must extract individual muscle fibers from the muscle bundle. Then, Anudeep solely fixes muscle fibers and pours solution on both ends of each individual fiber to prevent it from tearing. The fixed muscle fiber is then given to another technician to test the fiber's tension, force production, etc. Seeing that Anudeep's role is in the middle of the process and errors in previous steps can affect the next technician, teamwork in this area of the lab is crucial.

Future & Advice
Anudeep plans on pursuing a Medical school degree since he has been accepted into several Medical School programs already. From Anudeep's volunteer experience abroad in India, he realized the extent to which healthcare is underserved in other countries which reinstalled his values for why he wanted to work in healthcare.

"I believe if you want to go into healthcare, it's because you genuinely want to help people and make a positive difference".

Although Anudeep is confident in his decision to pursue medical school, he advocates taking time before committing to a career in order to realize what truly sparks your interest when thinking about careers.

To learn more about the Muscle Biology lab, explore https://www.facebook.com/umassMBL/

Muscle Physiology Laboratory

Directed by Dr. Jane Kent, The Muscle Physiology lab conducts research on the effects of age, gender, and physical activity in human skeletal muscle function and intramuscular fatigue. Compared to the Muscle Biology lab that works with muscle fibers primarily at the cellular level, the Muscle Physiology lab works with whole muscles "in vivo", directly translating to "within the living". Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), the muscle physiology lab is able to obtain images of muscles within the body and measure the chemical metabolism within the muscle. Exercises are conducted within the magnet to measure the use of energy substrates.

Masters Student: Christopher (Chris) Hayden 

Education

From Springfield College, Chris graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. The coursework at Springfield College trained and taught him for the applied science professions like strength and conditioning and personal training. Over the summer prior to beginning his master's degree, Chris underwent an internship under the Institute of Applied Life Sciences, Human Testing Center Director, Michael Busa.

Current Project

As a graduate student, Chris must propose and defend his research study which aims to compare the functionality of accelerometer with portable calorimeters and room calorimeters which measure inhalation and exhalation of heat from the body. The application of portable calorimeters for long durations is not feasible due to the discomfort of being attached to the subject similar to a V02 max test. On the other hand, a room calorimeter is a chamber measures oxygen inhalation and carbon dioxide exhalation for a longer period of time without any implements physically attached to the body. With the use of the room calorimeter, and accelerometers from the Physical Activity and Health lab, the goal is to manipulate accelerometers to better estimate everyday energy expenditure.

Portable calorimeter

Room calorimeter with bed, laptop, window, and air ducts. Full virtual tour can be accessed at https://www.umass.edu/ials/room-cal

Future

Chris will propose, collect data, and defend his research. After achieving a Master's degree in Kinesiology at UMass, he plans to pursue a Doctorate degree at a different institution as it is more influential to what area he may decide to work in.

To learn more about the Muscle Physiology lab, explore https://blogs.umass.edu/jkent/. 

Physical Activity

Physical Activity & Health Laboratory

Directed by Dr. John R. Sirard and Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke, the Physical Activity and Health lab is interested in improving methods of physical assessment and investigating the effects of physical activity and inactivity on health outcomes. With the use of objective activity monitors, the lab continues to conduct research on ways of improving physical activity measurements. By improving physical activity measurements, the lab is able to assess the impact of different amounts of physical activity on health. Generally, the lab conducts research on the: assessment of physical activity and inactivity using activity monitors, effects of exercise and lifestyle behaviors on biomarkers of health, energy cost of aerobic dance and comparisons of different metabolic measurement systems.

Masters Student: Colleen Sands

Education

Originally planning to become a physical therapist as an undergraduate student, Colleen was accepted into several Doctor of Physical Therapy programs. At the same time, Colleen was involved with the Physical Activity and Health lab through the making of her honors program thesis. Through the thesis involvement, Colleen was exposed to research and was offered a spot as a graduate student in the lab. Colleen graduated from UMass with a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology with future plans as a Masters student under Professor, Dr. Catrine Tudor-Locke.

Current Project

Colleen works as a Graduate Research Assistant and as Lab Manager. Her primary interests involve physical activity, walking and running gait, and association with health outcomes. She is currently involved in several studies: 1) The CADENCE-Adults study – an NIH/NIA R01 Funded Study examining the relationship between cadence (steps/minute) and intensity; 2) The Running Entrainment Study – an investigation of the variations between group and individual running on gait parameters; 3) The Cadence Entrainment Study –  investigating the influence of prescribed walking cadence (by rhythmic auditory cueing [RAC] via metronome) on the metabolic cost of walking; and 4) The Music Entrainment Study – investigating the influence of prescribed walking cadence (by RAC via music) on the metabolic cost of walking. She is currently working on several manuscripts in preparation for publication. 
In the CADENCE-Adults study, Colleen noticed how vague the National Public Health guidelines were when stating physical activity exercise intensities, which defined moderate intensity as the ability to talk but not sing. On the other side of the spectrum, metabolic equivalents (MET) measurements require a lab and specific equipment, making it complicated and inaccessible for most people to measure. The lab has found step counts to be an accurate indicator of exercise intensity: 100 steps per minute can be associated with moderate exercise intensity; 130 steps per minute can be associated with vigorous exercise intensity.

"Step counts are good measures to increase physical activity, but people are likely not hitting moderate intensity levels of physical activity for many of those steps"

Future and Careers
After finishing her Masters degree in Kinesiology, Colleen aims to lecture at a university with primary focus on teaching undergraduate and not directing a lab.

"At institutions like UMass, most of the professors aren't able to or don't want to focus on teaching... I plan to move to a smaller R2 or R3 institution to focus on teaching at the university level" 

Colleen also brought up Science Writing, which entails working with companies to interpret scientific research articles into lay articles for a broader audience to understand, appearing in magazines, newspapers, and other mediums. Lay articles are based by research, but are not necessarily accurately interpreted. Scientific writers must be qualified enough to disseminate research articles accurately as they hold considerable influence over the direct actions of the general population.

Doctoral Student: John Chase

Education

Originally from Michigan, John was an undergraduate student at Michigan State and involved himself in the Human Energy Research Lab. After graduating from Michigan State, John took a year off and attended James Madison University. At James Madison, John studied muscle performance through cycling and strength measures comparing sleep-deprived participants with control participants for his Masters thesis. He then joined UMass in the Muscle Biology Laboratory as a Doctoral student and recently transferred to the Physical Activity and Health lab under Dr. John Sirard and Dr. Rebecca Spencer. 

Current Project

 In the Physical Activity and Health lab, John is studying the accuracy of accelerometers on measuring sleep compared to polysomnography machines, the gold standard of sleep measurement. Some accelerometers companies claim that their watches have the ability to measure sleep accurately, but with a polysomnography machine, John will have the ability to either validate or invalidate these claims. Furthermore, heart rate and respiratory measures will be taken in order to better detect changes of time awake and time asleep. 

"If you're lying down in bed trying to fall asleep, accelerometers will typically interpret it as sleep time due to the lack of accelerations, which overestimates your total sleep time"

Future and Careers

Similar to Colleen, John hopes to become a professor with a good balance between lecturing and conducting research. John noticed that as a R1 institution professor, the teaching load is lowered due to the amount of involvement with grant-writing and applying.  

Continuing work with accelerometers, is the route of Industry with focus on designing accelerometers that measure physical activity. Additionally in the route of Industry, Pepsi has a lab designed to create a line of nutritious foods with the same equipment as an R1 institution. 

To learn more about the Physical Activity and Health lab, explore https://blogs.umass.edu/pahl/?_ga=2.213040212.1995130812.1556645031-411195605.1540573329

Behavioral Medicine Laboratory

Directed by Dr. Katie (Becofsky) Potter, and recently established in 2016, the Behavioral Medicine lab conducts research on new holistic approaches to increase levels of physical activity. The lab focuses on stealth health and alternative interventions that promote physical activity and psychosocial outcomes. Its current research focuses on dog ownership and dog walking.

Masters Student: Caitlin Rajala

Education

Caitlin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with an English Major and Dance Minor from Mount Holyoke College. Moving to Scotland, she attended the University of Edinburgh to pursue a Masters of Science in Dance Science and Education. Dance Science and Education involves the application of educational theory to dance and dance to educational theory in the classroom. Hoping to pursue further education within the field of Kinesiology, Caitlin decided to attend UMass and become the first Masters student in the Behavioral Medicine lab. 

Current Project

Chronic illness management and the use of alternative methods to increase physical activity are Caitlin's particular interests. As a masters student, Caitlin's thesis project will likely be analyzing research related to older adults, fall risk, and chronic pain. 

"The more you can attach physical activity to things that are important to people, the more likely people will adhere and benefit from it"

Future
Cailtin is undecided on whether or not she will pursue a PhD at this time. The decision to go forward in her education  is dependent on the requirements of her future career. 

To learn more about the Behavioral Medicine lab, explore https://blogs.umass.edu/kbecofsky/home/

Pediatric Physical Activity Laboratory

Directed by Dr. Sofiya Alhassan, the Pediatric Physical Activity lab conducts studies to examine the effects of community-based physical activity intervention on pediatric obesity and other health related outcomes. The goal of the lab is to conduct community-based physical activity interventions for the prevention of pediatric obesity and related co-morbidities, with a concentration on low socio-economic status, ethnic minority populations. 

To learn more about the Pediatric Physical Activity lab, explore https://www.umass.edu/kinpedlab/home