Collaborative Scholarship - Biomechanics Lab Raises the Bar, Prepares for International Conference
Dr. Jeffrey Eggleston, assistant professor of Kinesiology and director of the Stanley Fulton Biomechanics and Motor Behavior Laboratory (Biomechanics Lab), is crossing college boundaries to share his expertise in biomechanics and limb functionality in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders and disabilities.
The newly hired professor – Eggleston will celebrate one year at UTEP this fall – has set a high standard for student productivity in his lab with great results. The team has a total of eight abstracts under consideration for the upcoming International Society of Biomechanics conference in Calgary, Canada this July, with all seven students contributing as first author.
Eggleston’s interdisciplinary team of students includes Heather Vanderhoof, a student in the Master of Science in Kinesiology program who followed Eggleston when he left the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) to come to UTEP, and Alyssa Olivas, a first year doctoral student in the UTEP Biomedical Engineering program who was inspired to work at the Biomechanics Lab by Eggleston’s professional background and work with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
“I was interested in how their gait and lower extremity biomechanics were different or similar to neuro-typical children, and if there were any disadvantages that could be improved,” said Olivas.
Olivas is one of the newest members of the lab group, and joins Vanderhoof and several other students in the Masters of Science in Kinesiology program, as well as two students in the college’s Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program. Eggleston, himself a graduate of UNLV’s doctoral program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, explained that that while his students may come from different backgrounds, working with other disciplines is necessary and helps them to gain a better perspective on how to solve problems.
“Science can’t really stand alone in single disciplines any longer. We have to view issues and problems through various lenses to answer pressing questions. In doing so, students have to have the opportunity to work with scientists from other disciplines to gain that experience,” he said.
In addition to maintaining a mix of disciplines within the work group, Eggleston manages his lab using a process that engages the more seasoned students as lab co-managers and mentors to the newer students – a process that he says helps everyone develop a strong scientific foundation and learn how to become mentors themselves.
Patrick Cereceres, a second-year doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences PhD Program, agreed. “I’m involved with most of the projects at the lab and help the masters’ students with anything they might need…especially because I went through the same program (MS Kinesiology) that they are going through right now,” he said. “Apart from mentoring other students, I have also learned how to recruit participants from the (local) Autism community and recently I gave a talk at the Autism Society of El Paso. I am also working to set up a research collaboration with a child psychiatrist from the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center. This independence has prepared me for life after the PhD program, and has been a great learning experience,” he added.
As the team awaits the results of their recent submissions to the ISB, Eggleston is two steps ahead and has begun to encourage the students to identify and plan to take part in a meeting that puts them “slightly out of their comfort zone” to ensure they get the most out of the experience. He is confident that all of the abstracts will be accepted for presentation, and attributes the impressive productivity to the hard work of each student and their dedication to each other’s success.
Vanderhoof added that being part of the lab has helped her not only with short-term successes, but has also helped shape her longer-term professional goals. “Our lab dynamic is unique in how we operate. We function well with each other and learn from each other in a way that has made me not only more confident in myself, but also in a way that I can confidently rely on my peers for support. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time from this group that I am eager to see how this group dynamic will improve my budding educational and professional goals in the biomechanics field,” she said.
To learn more about Dr. Eggleston’s research, visit the laboratory website or follow them on Twitter (@Biomech_UTEP) and Instagram (@biomechanics_utep).
Photo courtesy of University Communications/Ivan Aguirre
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