Summer Road Trip

By: Ammon Hills

On June 4-7^th six undergraduate students (Matt Madigan, Jeremy Bouwhuis, Nelson Diamond, Andrew Christensen, Ammon Hills, Mike Snarr) and one graduate student (Steve Elmer) working in the Neuromuscular Function Lab (NMFL) traveled to Pullman, WA for the 2009 Northwest Biomechanics Symposium hosted by Washington State University. The 11 hour road trip to Pullman, WA was over 670 miles but time went by relatively quickly as we all had laptops, Ipod’s, and some light reading material to keep us busy. Over 90 faculty/students from seven states and one providence participated in this conference. The NMFL presented three poster and four podium presentations on the topics of: maximal power produced with flexible and non-flexible shoes, bilateral deficit and asymmetry during maximal cycling, joint power absorption during eccentric exercise, and the biomechanical aspects of eccentric muscle damage and recovery. Presenters from other schools focused their research on tissue and cellular mechanics, prosthetics and robotics, injury prevention, urinary incompetence, and even the mechanics of childbirth. Who would have thought that biomechanics covered such a vast range of academic disciplines? Overall, our summer road trip and conference experience was a great opportunity to present/share our research, increase our understanding of biomechanics, meet other faculty/students from around the Northwest, and form six new Facebook friends!

Although biomechanics is merely one course in the ESS department, numerous academic and non-academic careers are available. The NMFL welcomes students to participate in research encompassing areas of muscle physiology, muscle mechanics, biomechanics, and human performance. If you are interested in traveling 11 hours to present research at a conference, or just want to observe some research in action and find out more about careers in biomechanics, stop by the NMFL (HPER-W 122). For additional information contact Steve Elmer at steve.elmer@utah.edu.