Research Seminars and Workshops
Kinesiology Seminar Series 2009-2010
All seminars will be in Bickner Auditorium, 3735 CCRB, from 12-1:30pm.
Friday, October 2
Donetta Cothran, Ph.D.
Kinesiology Department
Indiana University
“This Is Kind of Giving a Secret Away” — What Students Can Teach Us About Learning
About Dr. Cothran:
“Since my own student teaching experiences I have been has been intrigued with the questions: (1) “What in the world were they [students] thinking?” and the related (2) “Why did they do that?” My research and practice focus on answering those questions for K-12 students, pre-service teachers, and inservice teachers. My research is school based and current investigations focus on school wellness programs and curricular interventions to promote children's health. The most current work is a series of multi-year, funded investigations of schools, physical activity, and at-risk populations. The school systems involved range from large urban school districts serving over 100,000 students, a majority of whom were African American, to smaller rural schools serving a few hundred Native American students. These research designs involved both teachers and students and the methodologies varied widely, but all were focused on understanding how schools impede or enhance children's wellness and knowledge, with a particular focus on physical activity. Other recent investigations focused on mentoring, classroom management, and teacher efficacy.” (Profile)
Friday, November 6
Susan Harkema, Ph.D.
Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center
Department of Neurological Surgery
University of Louisville
Activity Dependent Plasticity after Neurologic Injury
About Dr. Harkema:
“Our primary research aim is to understand neural mechanisms responsible for human locomotion and the level of plasticity after neurologic injury. The primary focus is to study the plasticity of the human lumbosacral spinal cord in individuals with spinal cord injury during locomotor training. We step individuals on a treadmill with body weight support and manual assistance to maintain the normal kinematics and kinetics of walking. Locomotor training is based on providing appropriate sensory information specific to locomotion to the neuronal circuits in the spinal cord. This sensory feedback can be interpreted and integrated by the neural circuitry in the human spinal cord and alter the efferent motor patterns during stepping. Repetitive locomotor training may promote spinal learning and strengthen the neural circuitry responsible for locomotion. Our studies emphasize the importance of basic neural principles of locomotion that are applicable to all animals. The results of these studies contribute to the knowledge about the fundamental mechanisms of control of human locomotion and may provide strategies than can be used by physical therapists for the rehabilitation of walking for patients after neurologic injury.” (Profile).
Dr. Harkema was recently featured on Good Morning America for her work with Janne Kouri, a paralysis patient.
Friday, March 12
Amy Bastian, Ph.D., P.T.
Motion Analysis Laboratory
Kennedy Krieger Institute
Rules and neural regulation of sensorimotor adaptation
About Dr. Bastian:
Much of Dr. Bastian’s work has focused on understanding how damage to the part of the brain called the cerebellum causes movement incoordination or “ataxia.” Cerebellar damage can be caused by tumor, stroke, hemorrhage, or degenerative disease. Ataxia resulting from cerebellar damage is extremely difficult to treat; often interventions are limited to physical therapy and exercise. Dr. Bastian’s long range goals are to help clarify the mechanisms by which cerebellar damage alters the production of normal movement and provide information that will enhance rehabilitation treatments for ataxia. Her prior research suggests that one important role of the cerebellum is to adjust the motor output controlling a given part of the body to compensate for mechanical effects caused by movement of other body parts (interaction torques). Her current research involves both children and adults with cerebellar ataxia. Specific studies are underway to define the mechanisms of gait (walking) ataxia, determine whether short term training can improve ataxic movements, and determine whether people with cerebellar ataxia can learn to shift movement performance to a more automatic state. Dr. Bastian’s group is also studying the movement disorders and treatments associated with cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s disease. (Profile)
Friday, April 9
Roger Noll, Ph.D.
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Stanford University
Topic to be announced
About Dr. Noll:
The author or co-author of twelve books and over three hundred articles and reviews, Noll's primary research interests include technology policy; antitrust, regulation and privatization policies in both advanced and developing economies; the economic approach to public law (administrative law, the judiciary, and statutory interpretation); and the economics of sports and entertainment. Noll has been a member of the advisory boards of the U.S. Department of Energy, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and National Science Foundation. He also has been a member of the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and the Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy of the National Research Council, and of the California Council on Science and Technology. (Profile)
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