Happy Summer! The academic year recently ended for our faculty, staff, and students at Seattle University and AY21-22 continued to be one for the record books. While there were a lot of unknowns, the Kinesiology Department saw some great growth in our program. We introduced more faculty and staff, graduated our largest undergraduate class (38!) and our first graduate cohort, and engaged over 600 youth through outreach opportunities. Our students participated in three different regional meetings (including one that was hosted at Seattle University) with poster and podium presentations at each one. Our podcasts continued to expand our perspectives on themes of diversity, equity, and inclusivity as it pertains to health, sport and the Kinesiology profession. And that was just in the first half of 2022!
We are all taking a break, catching our collective and individual breath, and recharging for what we know will be an amazing second half. Read on for more details about the amazing extracurricular events available for our students and the community. And don’t forget to follow us on our social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) so that you can stay up to date on all our events and activities.
The HPL Hangout series invited students to swing by anytime during the hour to grab a snack, hang with some of the lab staff and to learn about some of our new tools in the HPL. This opportunity allowed students to get more involved in the HPL regardless of classification. Each week we covered a new topic by delving into the research and creating evidence-based workshops related to our equipment:
Back in the Fall, we celebrated the opening of the Mobile Kinesiology Lab-and then Seattle University promptly closed for the holidays and COVID19 delays. But we reopened in February, just in time for the mobile lab to take its maiden voyage!
The Redhawk Road Trip took place from February 15 to 27 and included stops along the entire West Coast including Washington, Oregon, and California. Sean Machak, Instructional Lab manager and Dan Henderson, MSK grad student, trekked down to the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in San Diego, CA, to collect data for Dan’s master’s thesis project, “Athlete Mass and the Vertical Component of Force in Olympic Sprinting Kayak.”
Along the way, they collected data at regional kayak clubs, met with researchers and students at San Francisco State University and CSU-East Bay, and engaged with high school students at Loyola High School in Los Angeles. They paid homage to the formerly segregated beaches of Santa Monica and those who helped desegregate it and bring diversity to the sport of surfing. On the way back, Sean stopped in to the regional ACSM meeting in Portland, Oregon, where we showed our peers exactly what the future of science can look like.
The Department hosted the Northwest Student Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium (NWSEPPS) for the first time. The NWSEPPS Pre-Conference Workshop and the 2022 AASP PNW Conference were held on April 29, 2022, and April 30, 2022, respectively.
The Pre-Conference Workshop consisted of presentations given by CMPC professionals and provided an opportunity for CMPC practitioners to obtain CEU credits. The full-day conference kicked off with a Keynote address by former Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl 48 Champion who currently has his own mental performance consulting business, Unleash! where he helps athletes develop to their full potential.
The full-day conference provided the opportunity for students and professionals in the field of sport and exercise psychology to network and engage in interactive learning via research and skills-building presentations facilitated by students, professionals and invited speakers. We are so proud of three of our own students, graduate students Augustine Herman and Katy Anderson and undergraduate student Cady Seavey, who all presented research they have been working on and did an excellent job! All speakers at the conference were engaged and attendees learned so much throughout the weekend!
The Kinesiology Department attended the Northwest Biomechanics Symposium for the first time this May. Dr Shultz took five graduate students, one undergraduate student, and the mobile laboratory to Pullman, WA.
We stopped along the way to engage with students at Ellensburg, Othello, and Pullman High Schools before immersing ourselves into the science. Ashley Buck gave a podium presentation on gait in children with obesity (as part of an ongoing international collaboration) and a poster presentation detailing her outreach work with National Biomechanics Day!
This year has been the strongest yet for creating connections within our community. Faculty and students were supported by funding from professional organizations to help engage youth in STEM. And more community partnerships are being established to help us spread the word about health, wellness, and sports science.
The Kinesiology mobile lab made its way to Renton Memorial Stadium for the Girls on the Run annual 5k. More than 1,200 girls completed the 5k and many of them stopped by the lab to learn more about Kinesiology and they got to test their vertical jump height. We appreciate Girls on The Run for inviting us to be a part of this amazing event!
At the invitation of the Seattle Seawolves, Dr. Shultz and four students (three undergrads, one grad) took the mobile laboratory to the last home game of the major league rugby regular season.
Passions were high as youth who were participating in their Run With The Pack program came over before the game to test their vertical jump height and force production on the tackling dummy. While one of the former players gave a strong effort, it was the youth who took away top prizes for highest jump height and contact force!
In celebration of Brain Awareness Week, Dr. Brittany Heintz Walters and Dr. Erica Rauff received a grant from the Dana Foundation in which graduate students in Dr. Walters' seminar course planned two educational sessions with 9th and 10th grade students from Middle College High School.
At the first session, high school students learned about the brain and how it controls movement. The graduate students took the high school students to new Billodue Makerspace in the Sinegal Science Center at Seattle University to see how 3-D printing can be used to create brain models.
At the second session, each high school student received a 3-D printed brain that was printed in the Makerspace and they learned about what parts of the brain are activated through exercise. Students did an activity to test their memory and executive functioning before and after some fun exercise and finally the high school students got a tour of the mobile lab and were able to experience EMG and Ultrasound first-hand!
Graduate student, Ashley Buck, received a Women in Biomechanics grant from the Biomechanics Initiative. Ashley used these resources to create hands-on biomechanics activities for students in under-represented communities who might otherwise not have access. The activities included demonstrations with our wireless electromyography sensors, our instrumented force insoles, and the Vertec apparatus. A total of 92 high schoolers (70% of whom identified as female) participated in these events.
During the winter quarter, Dr Rauff ran an integrated graduate and undergraduate course on Exercise & Mental Health. As part of the community service learning, students spent a Saturday morning working with Joel Thomas, Community Outreach Manager from Project Be Free to record educational and instructional exercise videos for Project Be Free's new #projectbefit challenge. The non-profit organization encourages community members who have experienced domestic violence to engage in physical activity for not only their physical health, but also for improving their mental health!
The Kinesiology Department’s 1st Annual “Clash of the Classes” took place on Wednesday, June 1, in front of the Quad on campus. In our first annual Clash, undergraduate and graduate classes competed against each other in four competitions: Slam Dunk Contest, Hydration Station, Lip Synch Battle, and Obstacle Relays (three-legged race, egg on a spoon, Pictionary, and charades).
This year’s winning class was the Class of 2022 co-led by Captains Regie Grady and Fernando Villavicencio.
The Kinesiology Department celebrated its largest graduating class of undergraduate students with balloons and cheering! We are so proud of our graduates, who are going on to great careers and academic opportunities.
In the same afternoon (with more balloons and more cheering), we celebrated the first graduating class of MS, Kinesiology students and the doctoral degree of our program coordinator, DR. Julius Moss.
As an extra bonus? Graduate student, Ashley Buck was awarded the Wallace Loh Academic Excellence Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. This award is given to one graduating graduate student who showed exceptional graduate work. Ashley’s multiple publications, presentations, and awards made her an obvious choice for the department and the college. Well done!
