
Fifteen Loyola Marymount University students participated in the regional Southwest American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) conference in Costa Mesa. ACSM is at the forefront of advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.
More importantly, the conference allowed LMU students to network and share the research they had been working on with the scientific community.
“SW ACSM was a great experience for me, and I would definitely recommend it! I was able to present my research to other students, professors, and trainers on the industry, and grow my network a lot!” says junior Atithi Multani. Multani presented her research on the effects of sled pull training on sprint profiles of soccer athletes. She collaborated with Jenevieve Roper and Robert Musci, both assistant professors in the Health and Human Sciences Department; Robert Rovetti, associate professor, and Junyuan Lin, assistant professor, in the Mathematics Department; and John Brasher, the associate director for sports performance at LMU.
“The drafting and submission process of an abstract was very beneficial,” says Abi Rae Stine, a senior in Assistant Professor Yong Woo An’s research group, “…one can learn a lot. It was helpful to apply the skills we have learned in HHSC to a real scenario.” Stine was a part of An’s team that assessed electrical activity of the brain area responsible for movement of an individual who recovered from ACL reconstruction surgery. The research has been ongoing for well over a year now. Lana Kayali, also in An’s group, says the conference was a gratifying experience. “I felt very proud watching the team present our research, seeing how far we’ve come from the beginning of last school year.”
Senior Claire Duisenberg says meeting with professionals in the field was valuable for her research with Professor Hawley Almstedt. Their research pertains to how diet influences mental health in college students. “Many of the questions that people asked helped broaden our view of how our research can be applied and allowed us to add to our project for this semester.”
In total, students presented 11 research projects at the conference under the guidance of Almstedt, An, Musci, Roper and Caio Sousa, assistant professor.
There were several symposia covering a wide range of clinical subjects, such as the negative effects of heat exposure, the best practices of nutrition in adolescent populations, and applying exercise physiology in clinical practice.
Joseph Le, a senior, enjoyed hearing from professionals in the field on topics that were often discussed in HHSC courses. In particular, Le liked learning about active areas of research that he first learned about in HHSC courses. “I was able to understand and learn more about the topics at hand.”
Additionally, three HHSC seniors were runners-up in the regional quiz bowl against 16 schools from the region. The quiz bowl covered topics ranging from anatomy to exercise physiology.
HHSC senior Jacob Laubach, who was on the quiz bowl team, was “shocked” by their own performance.
That “shock” is attributed to the fact that the team of three, Laubach, Sami Kuhns, and Joseph Le, had no intention of competing in the competition. They had not prepared for the quiz bowl and thus were relying only upon the knowledge they had internalized. For them, this was a “pop quiz.”
Laubach was impressed by the amount of information the team had retained over the years. Their performance demonstrated how much they have learned and absorbed.
“The competition was fierce, they managed to pull off an upset!” reflects Roper. “We are extremely proud of our team, they really set the bar high for next year!”