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Eric S

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at University of Georgia

Expertise

psychology, biomechanics, concussions, sport performance

Bio

My academic passion is creating better short- and long-term outcomes after a sports injury or concussion. I love research because I get to answer questions to help people on a macro level. After my doctorate/PhD, I hope to continue my research and educate undergraduate students to prepare them for healthcare-related fields. A lot of my free time is spent working out and playing volleyball. I also collect playing cards from various places I've visited and as gifts. My family loves to play card games.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Where to focus when jumping?

Improving jump performance is a key component of sports. Should athlete focus their attention internally (on their muscle) or externally (on their goal) to improve jump performance? Run a project with your friends and see if they jump higher when focusing at their goal, or when focusing on how their muscles are moving. Write up a research paper discussing current literature, the methods you used to test your research question, results (we'll cover statistics), and discuss what your results mean practically.

Sex and Concussion

Males and females experience concussions in different manners. For example, females tend to have more symptoms. Creating an infographic explaining these differences be highly beneficial for managing the expectations of the patients and medical practitioners.

Psychology and Movement

Use open source software such as OpenCap.ai or OnForm App to analyze biomechanics data. Then relate this biomechanics data to psychological constructs such as kinesiophobia (fear of movement) and quality of life.

Coding skills

R statistics software

Languages I know

n/a

Teaching experience

During my master's program, I taught multiple physical education courses including beginner and intermediate volleyball and badminton. During my doctorate program, I currently teach the Biomechanics Lab. I have also mentored multiple undergraduate students for their own projects and while they assist on larger scale faculty-driven projects.

Credentials

Work experience

California State University, Fullerton (2013 - 2016)
Research Assistant
California State University, Fullerton (2014 - 2016)
Resident Advisor
California State Univeristy, Fullerton (2014 - 2016)
Teaching Assistant
University of Georgia (2020 - Current)
Doctoral Research Assistant

Education

California State University, Fullerton (CSU Fullerton)
BS Bachelor of Science (2016)
Kinesiology
California State University, Fullerton (CSU Fullerton)
MS Master of Science (2018)
Kinesiology
University of Georgia
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Kinesiology

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