Category: Research

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”

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, 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

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.

KIP Seminar with Dr. Patrick Mueller from Wayne State University’s School of Medicine

Please join us on Friday, December 8, from 3:00-4:00 pm in ATDC 101 for our last seminar of the fall 2023 semester. Our guest speaker is Dr. Patrick Mueller from the Department of Physiology at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine.

The title of Dr. Mueller’s presentation is “Mechanisms of Neuroplasticity Involved in Inactivity-Related Cardiovascular Disease.” More information about our speaker and his research can be found in the abstract or flyer below.

Abstract: The goal of the research in my laboratory is to learn more about how the brain controls the diameter of blood vessels in the peripheral circulation, which directly influence our resting blood pressure. In particular, I am interested in how the brain adapts in its control of the cardiovascular system under various physiological and pathophysiological states. Currently, the laboratory is to examining how sedentary versus physical active conditions change the brain (known as neuroplasticity) and is related to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in individuals who do not exercise on a regularly basis. Using a variety of techniques, we examine blood pressure regulation at the level of the whole animal down to levels of gene expression in individual cells. More recently we have been focusing on the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the context of a sedentary lifestyle and renovascular hypertension.  Included in these studies, is the exploration of sex-based differences in blood pressure regulation by the brain since women of reproductive age have a far lower incidence of cardiovascular disease than men. Ultimately our goal is to target neural mechanisms in the brain which contribute to cardiovascular disease.

KIP Students Have Strong Showing at 2023 Upper Peninsula Medical Conference

Three from the Exercise Physiology Lab presented a poster at the conference. From left to right: Enioluwa Wright (undergraduate BioSci student), Abby Brooks (MS KIP student), Nathan Balok (MS KIP student)

The 2023 Upper Peninsula Medical Conference was held on the MTU’s campus on October 28, 2023. Several KIP students attended to learn more about their field of study and network with health care professionals.

Abby Brooks is a first-year master’s student in Kinesiology. She is part of the Exercise Physiology Lab and advised by Dr. Steve Elmer. Something she found really interesting about the conference was the talk that involved red light and blue light. She had heard about blue light before and how it affects how you sleep, but she didn’t know how bad the effects actually were, and it made her think about how she should put her phone down earlier. She didn’t know the ideas presented about red light and its benefits. She also presented a poster on her research, titled “Promoting Physical Activity in the Rural and Medically Underserved Upper Peninsula.”

Abby Brooks presents her poster to the public.

Lily Hart is a thesis-based master’s student in Kinesiology and a member of Dr. Carolyn Duncan’s Biomechanics Lab. Something she found interesting about the conference was the variety of professions that can be a part of the medical field other than being a physician. Also, it was her first time being a part of a conference and presenting, and she felt very grateful to be able to be there with the lab team.

From left to right: Lily Hart, Gracie VanLangevelde, and Lexi Little presenting their poster.

Gracie VanLangevelde is pursuing an accelerated master’s degree in Kinesiology. She works in Dr. Duncan’s lab and focuses on deep tendon reflexes. Something she learned was that the ticks in the Upper Peninsula carry diseases other than Lyme disease. People can collect the ticks they find and submit them to the local lab for testing. The title of her poster presentation was “Utilizing Surface Electromyography and Kinematic Analyses to Quantify Deep Tendon Reflexes.” Gracie said, “I hope to contribute to this ongoing study to help other researchers with their work.”

Xinqian (Sherry) Chen has been studying for four years under Dr. Zhiying (Jenny) Shan to earn her PhD in Integrative Physiology. Something she learned from the conference was new mechanism of diabetes is focusing on the loss of beta cell identity (dedifferentiation or trans-differentiation) instead of the loss of beta cell numbers. Her poster presentation was titled “Brain-derived Small Extracellular Vesicles from Dahl Salt Sensitive Rats with High Salt Diet Induce Inflammation and Oxidative Stress.”

Xinqian (Sherry) Chen with her poster.

Nathan Balok is a first-year master’s student in Kinesiology. He is currently working in the Exercise Physiology Lab with Dr. Elmer. When he attended the UP Medical Conference, he found Dr. Jed Magen’s presentation about major depressive disorder in primary care settings particularly interesting. Since he hopes to enter the medical field as a physician, it will be crucial for him to be mindful of his patients’ health from a holistic point of view, including their mental health. Recognizing the signs and symptoms of major depressive disorder and taking the steps to treat it will help him be a better advocate for patients’ health in the future.