KIP Graduate Students Earn Awards

Congratulations to three of KIP’s graduate students on their recent research, teaching, and scholarly achievements! Compliments to these students, as well as the faculty that provide the training and mentorship for their success. 

  • Lily Hart (MS student) received the Harry R. Cohodas U.P. Graduate Student Fellowship for Summer 2024.
  • Felix Cottet-Puinel (MS student) is the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Scholarship from the Graduate School.
  • Kyle Wehmanen (PhD student) is the recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Graduate School.
  • Kyle Wehmanen received a second year of funding for his Michigan Space Grant Consortium Fellowship.
Lily Hart
Felix Cottet-Puinel
Kyle Wehmanen

March KIP Seminar

Please join the KIP department on Friday, March 22, from 3:00-4:00 pm in Fisher 132 for our March seminar.

The guest speaker will be Sarah Konefal from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The title of the presentation is “Drug Overdose and Co-occurring Conditions in Michigan.” For more information about the speaker and her work, please take a look at the flyer below.

KIP Hosts Student Research Forum

Presenters from left to right: Lily Hart, Lexi Little, Nathan Balok, Kyle Wehmanen, Xinqian (Sherry) Chen, Derrick Simet, Oluwatosin Oyeniran

The MTU KIP department hosted its annual Student Research Forum on February 16, 2024 as part of its February department seminar series. Students and faculty from the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology, as well as the Central Michigan University Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program attended. Several undergraduate and graduate students presented their research, educational, and outreach related projects.

As part of the thematic style poster session, students first delivered short, 3-minute oral presentations to the audience and then gave more in-depth explanations of their projects to attendees that circulated through the posters. The student presentations were excellent, and students were commended for their work and level of professionalism. Importantly, the questions and feedback that students received will help them move their projects forward and prepare to present their work at regional and national conferences later this Spring.

To help support student travel to conferences, please consider contributing to our student travel fund through our giving opportunities page

Audience listening to the students’ 3-minute presentations
Small groups interacting with presenters and their posters
Left to right: Xinqian (Sherry) Chen (KIP PhD candidate) with Dr. Zhiying Shan
“Brain-Derived Extracellular Vesicles from Dahl Salt-Sensitive Rats with High Salt Diet Increase PVN and SON Vasopressin Levels in Sprague Dawley Rats”
Left to right: Derrick Simet (member of Dr. Chen’s lab) with Dr. Qing-Hui Chen
“Inhibiting Local Brain Metabolism of Ethanol in the Central Nucleus of the Amygdala Blunts Sympathoexcitatory Responses Induced by Ethanol in Sprague Dawley Rats”
Left to right: Dr. Steven Elmer with Oluwatosin Oyeniran (KIP PhD student)
“Classroom Techniques for Teaching Skeletal Muscle Contraction”
Left to right: Nathan Balok (KIP MS student)
“Physiology Outreach in the Upper Peninsula,” Dr. Steven Elmer, Kyle Wehmanen (KIP PhD student)
“Metabolic Cost of Human Locomotion on Soft Terrain”
Left to right: Dr. Carolyn Duncan, Alexandra Little (BioSci undergraduate student), Lily Hart (KIP MS student)
“Surface Electromyography to Quantify Deep Tendon Reflexes”

KIP and CMU-DPT Alum Brett Gervais Nominated as a Copper Shores Superior Educator

Brett Gervais is an alum of both the MTU KIP department in Exercise Science and the CMU Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT) program. He was nominated as a Copper Shores Superior Educator for his role as a football and track and field coach in the Lake Linden-Hubbell school district. He is currently a physical therapist at Aspirus in Calumet. Congratulations to Brett for earning such a great honor and being a positive role model for so many student athletes in our local area.

February KIP Seminar: Student Research Forum

Please join us this Friday, February 16, from 3:00-4:15 pm in ATDC 101 for this month’s KIP Seminar. Refreshments will be provided.

This seminar will showcase the current research, educational, and outreach projects that KIP’s undergraduate and graduate students are working on. Students will present their projects and answer questions. This is a great way for them to receive feedback before they go on to present at regional and national conferences. We look forward to seeing you!

KIP Graduate Students Discuss Publication on APS Podcast

Graduate students Kyle Wehmanen and Felix Cottet-Puinel discussed their recent publication in the Advances in Physiology Education titled “Impact of Health Behaviors on Community Well-Being and Resilience: Teaching K-12 Students with Jenga!” on the American Physiological Society (APS) Publications Podcast series. You can listen to the podcast on the APS Publications Podcast website.

Kyle and Felix during Podcast

KIP, CMU-DPT, and ME-EM Students Collaborate on Backpack Study and have Paper Published in “Applied Ergonomics”

Three departments at Michigan Tech collaborated on a research study titled “Influences of Backpack Loading on Recovery from Anterior and Posterior Losses of Balance.” The official release of the paper can be found in Applied Ergonomics.

Students from the Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology and Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics department at MTU and Central Michigan University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program worked on this study under the direction of Dr. Carolyn Duncan (KIP faculty).

Participant in Study

KIP Alum and Faculty Published in Journal of Antioxidants

Professor Qing-Hui Chen, Professor Zhiying Shan, and Dr. Andrew Chapp, a former KIP doctoral student, have had a review article published in the Journal of Antioxidants titled “ Acetic Acid: An Underestimated Metabolite in Ethanol-Induced Changes in Regulating Cardiovascular Function.”

Dr. Chapp has worked on this research project since he started his PhD in 2013 in the KIP department. He is the lead author of this article.

From left to right: Andrew Chapp, Qing-Hui Chen, Mingjun Gu (Chen lab assistant)
Zhiying Shan

Kelly Kamm Selected as SDOH Hub Advisory Council Member

Kelly Kamm

Kelly Kamm (KIP) has been selected to serve on the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ (MDHHS’) Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Hub Advisory Council.

Kamm, the Copper Shores Community Health Foundation Endowed Assistant Professor, focuses her research on understanding the determinants of health in young children and the elderly in rural populations, then works to develop and test interventions that improve health behaviors. She specializes in scalable, cost-effective interventions to improve health in communities with limited resources.

The advisory council’s work begins later this month. Kamm is eager to get started. “I’m excited to help represent the Upper Peninsula since social determinants of health play such a critical role in protecting and promoting health in our communities,” she said.

The SDOH Hub Advisory Council will guide the implementation of SDOH Hub pilot projects in communities across Michigan in 2024 and develop recommendations for future SDOH Hub initiatives.

According to the MDHHS, the pilot projects “bring community members, health care professionals, social service providers, government partners and business leaders together to address the social determinants of health and improve health equity.” Each pilot project will receive resources and technical assistance provided by MDHHS and contracted partners.

MDHHS said that over time, the Hub pilots’ aim is achieving “the overarching goal of the Roadmap to Healthy Communities: Improve the health and social outcomes of all Michigan residents while working to achieve health equity by eliminating disparities and barriers to social and economic opportunity.”

Visit the MDHHS’ SDOH Hubs page for more information on the program.

Former KIP Doctoral Student Published in the Journal of Applied Physiology

Former Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology (KIP) doctoral student Joshua Gonzalez ’21 (Ph.D. Integrative Physiology) and Professor William Cooke (KIP) are the co-authors of an article published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

The article is titled “Acute fasting reduces tolerance to progressive central hypovolemia in humans.”

In addition to his paper being published, it was also selected for “APSselect”, which is a monthly collection from the American Physiological Society (APS) that showcases some of the best recently published articles in physiological research.