Several members of the Human Sensorimotor Control Lab (HSCL) will be contributing to the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) conference in New Orleans next week. Jürgen Konczak, Ph.D., professor of kinesiology and director of the HSCL, will be one of three program chairs for the conference, serving as the program chair for the Development Perspective section.

Kinesiology doctoral student Kara Marlatt has been awarded a Predoctoral Fellowship for the 2013-2015 academic years from the American Heart Association. The American Heart Association awards fellowships to help doctoral students initiate their career in cardiovascular function and stroke research by providing research assistance and training.

Marlatt's research project is titled, "Effects of Statin Therapy on Arterial Stiffness in Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer." Her advisors are Dr. Donald Dengel from the School of Kinesiology, and Dr. Aaron Kelly from the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Research.

Alena Brooks, an exceptional women's track and field athlete, received her B.S. in kinesiology this month and was admitted to the School of Kinesiology graduate program. She will be an M.Ed. student in the sport and exercise emphasis area beginning Fall 2013. Even though her collegiate career has ended, Brooks continues to run as she aspires to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The Minnesota Daily reflected on her life and athletic career in, "Trinidad star excels on track." Her competitive athletic career was described throughout the article highlighting all of her achievements. She earned the following distinctions:

• Second-team All-Big Ten honors in the 600-meter run and the distance medley relay her freshman year


• Placed third at the Big Ten indoor track championships in the 400-meter run as a sophomore


• Qualifed for an NCAA regional in two events her junior year


• Placed fifth in the 600-meter run at the Big Ten indoor championships and won the 400-meter run at the Arkansas Invitational as a senior

The school is excited to welcome back Brooks in the Fall as she continues her education and attempts to fulfill her Olympic dreams.

Three students in the School of Kinesiology have been awarded an American Kinesiology Association (AKA) Student Award for 2013. Molly Watkins, who will graduate Summa Cum Laude this spring with a B.S. in Kinesiology, was presented with an Undergraduate Scholar Award. Scott Brown, who will graduate this spring with a Ph.D.in kinesiology, with an emphasis in exercise physiology, was awarded the Graduate Scholar Award. Vicki Schull, doctoral candidate in kinesiology, sport management emphasis, received the Writing Award. The students are advised by Ms. Susan Stirling, Dr. Lisa Kihl, and Dr. Stacy Ingraham, respectively.

AKA is the national organization that promotes and enhances kinesiology as a unified field of study and advances its many applications. These awards are intended to recognize and promote academic excellence, to further the professional competence and dedication of academically accomplished graduate students, and to promote kinesiology and its related fields.

Matt Vollum, teaching specialist and coordinator of Kinesiology's physical education and health licensure programs, and Kinesiology doctoral student in sport sociology, will be discussing the topic, "Parent Involvement in Sports," on Kare 11 News.

This feature will air Thursday, May 9, on the 10 p.m. broadcast. The discussion group was lead by Randy Shaver of Kare 11 News and will be a four to five minutes long.

Kinesiology doctoral student Patrick Wilson has been awarded a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for the 2013-2014 academic year from the University of Minnesota's Graduate School. The (DDF) program gives the University's most accomplished Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to dissertation research and writing during the fellowship year. The award includes a stipend of $22,500 for the academic year.

Wilson's research is titled, "Selected Issues related to Carbohydrate and Endurance Exercise Performance." His advisers are Dr. Stacy Ingraham and Dr. Li Li Ji.

Doctoral candidate Tommy Valentini, head coach of the Gustavus Adolphus men's tennis team, coached his squad to the 2013 MIAC Championship over the weekend. The team will compete in the NCAA Tournament on May 11 at 1:00 p.m., facing off against Wisconsin-Whitewater in the second round following a first-round bye.

Read more about their MIAC Championship win on the GAC website.

Valentini is advised by Dr. Nicole M. LaVoi,.

Graduate student Monika Sattler participated in the Trans Iowa V9, a 310-plus mile bike race this past weekend. This self-navigated, self-supported race is entirely on gravel roads and is limited to 100 participants. Sattler began the race at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday and finished at 6:40 a.m. on Sunday, placing fourth overall. The race is extremely competitive and participants had to complete the course by 1:30 p.m. on Sunday or they were disqualified. Only 36 cyclists finished the race this year.

Sattler is working towards her Masters of Science in kinesiology and is advised by assistant professor Eric Snyder, Ph.D.

Dr. Zan Gao, assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology, organized a research symposium titled, "Relationships between Motor Skills, Perceived Competence, Physical Activity and Fitness," at the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance National Convention in Charlotte, NC. The purpose of this symposium was to investigate the dynamic relationships between children's motor skills, perceived competence, physical activity participation and fitness in different settings among diverse samples.

Gao presented two papers as lead author and co-authored two papers at the symposium. He also presented and co-presented a total of nine papers with his graduate student You Fu, former advisees Chaoqun Huang and Weihong Ning, and visiting scholar Zuguo Tian. Additionally, Gao presented as a keynote speaker at the National Association for Sport and Physical Education forum at the AAHPERD Convention.

Doctoral students Jessica Albers, Julia Dutove, and Hayley Russell presented at the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., last weekend.

Albers presented work in progress which was titled, "Jump Rope Teams for Youth." Dutove and Russell presented their dissertation proposals in the graduate student work in progress poster session. Dutove's work is titled, "Parent Behavior on Youth Sport Sidelines," and Russell's work is named, "Psychological and Physical Predictors of Return to Activity among Adolescent Athletes after ACL Reconstruction."

Russell also presented a paper entitled, "Microtrauama sport injury psychology narratives in long distance runners," which examines the specific experiences and responses of male and female long-distance runners who have endured microtrauma injuries. This paper was co-authored by fellow Ph.D students Reed Steele and Ayanna Franklin in addition to Dr. Diane Wiese-Bjornstal and former Masters student Shelby Hoppis.