Category: Research

Graduate students in the Advanced Exercise Physiology Course (KIP 5000) recently attended several conferences and presented class projects collaboratively built through the first part of the semester. The course taught by Dr. Steven Elmer in the Department of Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology (KIP), tasked students with conducting a literature search to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on human health and society. In support of Exercise is Medicine on Campus Month, the student projects emphasized the important role that physical activity has in combating both chronic and infectious disease.

Midwest ACSM Conference

Master’s student Felix Cottet-Puinel and doctoral student Kyle Wehmanen attended the annual meeting for the Midwest Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine held in Indianapolis, Indiana on October 20-22, 2022. The mission and purpose of the conference was to promote scientific advancement, disseminate information regarding sports, physical activity, and medicine, and foster collaborative relationships between students, educators, scientists, and physicians across the region. Felix and Kyle presented their class work during the first poster session of the event with great success. Visitors were highly engaged with the poster’s topic spotlighting the problematic synergy between multiple long-standing health pandemics (non-communicable diseases) and the crisis of the emergent COVID-19 pandemic. Their work also laid out evidence based on the HL-PIVOT Model (Healthy Living for Pandemic Protection) for leveraging healthy living behaviors including physical activity to combat these multiple pandemics. They shared ways the KIP students and faculty are working to increase activity and health in our community. Our Michigan Tech attendees also enjoyed learning outside their direct areas of study. Dr. Andrew Jagim from the Mayo Clinic delivered a fantastic keynote on nutrition in athletes and how they are often not meeting their basic needs. Also during the trip, Felix, Kyle, and several other KIP graduate students visited Dr. John Durocher at Purdue University Northwest to foster collaborative relationships across institutions. At the end of the day, it was a fantastic experience. Felix said, “I learned a great deal, and had a ton of fun presenting. The only thing I would change is making the poster session twice as long!”

Global and Community Engagement Conference

Master’s students Tyler Hampton and Gwyn Hamlin presented at the D80 Conference here at Michigan Tech University on October 29, 2022. The theme of the interdisciplinary conference was “Re-energizing Our Communities Through Service.” These students expanded upon the work described above to deliver an oral presentation to a broad audience consisting of students, staff, faculty, and community members. A key component of the presentation was highlighting the community service that the KIP Department provides delivering live and recorded physical activity workouts through a free program called UP & Moving. Attendees were very interested in how the general public views “physical activity” as a means to go to the gym, while Tyler and Gwyn pointed out that this could be something as simple as walking the dog or shoveling snow during our long winters here in the Upper Peninsula. These students also had the opportunity to listen to the keynote speaker Dr. Kurt Paterson, who presented “Global Engagement, Problem-Solving, or Impact.” Dr. Paterson’s return to Michigan Tech was very welcomed as he participated in the first D80 Conference held here. This is especially true since he really got the audience thinking at the end of his presentation. After the conference Gwyn said, “I enjoyed the setting of the conference and I think it went well. We were able to answer questions at the end and provide additional information on the importance of being physically active during the pandemic and beyond.”

Attending these conferences helped KIP graduate students gain valuable experience bridging the gap from classroom learning to a professional setting while sharing their ideas in a supportive environment. Moving forward, we plan to capture this momentum and include more graduate and undergraduate students in similar work. Finally, the graduate students would like to thank the KIP Department for their support, and specifically, Dr. Elmer for his guidance throughout the process.

After two years of virtual conferences, we finally made it to an in-person conference: Experimental Biology 2022 in Philadelphia. Each seminar-filled day was a cornucopia of knowledge, especially the Central Nervous System session chaired by Dr. Chen (MTU) and co-chaired by Dr. Patel (UNMC). Here, some of the foremost experts on exercise and autonomic control of the cardiovascular system discussed their latest research and methods. Beyond attending seminars and drinking inordinate amounts of coffee, I had the privilege of presenting our lab’s exercise and SK channel research to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers, inside and outside our field. This was a nice opportunity to get feedback and suggestions on how to improve our research going forward. Additionally, after being worn down from months of experiments and troubleshooting, seeing how your research fits into the larger scientific field was a gratifying breath of fresh air.

As a fourth year Ph.D. student, networking is pertinent to the expansion of my professional prospects after graduation. Experimental Biology (EB) is an annual international conference put on by five societies featuring lectures, symposia, poster presentations, and various professional workshops.  As an interdisciplinary scientist, my research spans from the impacts of the gut microbiome on neurophysiology to the effects of high salt diet on neurogenic cardiovascular diseases. EB welcomes scientists and biological educators in multiple areas of expertise, largely from the United States. The energy in the building was charged with enthusiasm and merriment as friends reconnected to discuss revolutionary science at one of the first in-person natural and life sciences conference this year. The symposium “Exercise and Autonomic Regulation of Cardiovascular Function” chaired by the KIP departments’ very own Dr. Qinghui Chen sticks out in my mind in particular. Another KIP graduate student, Isaac Wedig, and I walked up to the conference room slightly confused by the amount of people pouring into the hallway. After moving through the crowd, we discovered all seats were filled and walls were lined with spectators eager to listen to this invigorating symposium. The speakers presented novel findings followed by an eruption of applause, all of which was observed by me in the only available space, the floor.  

This year EB took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “The City of Brotherly Love”. Being my first time in this city, me and several other graduate students found time away from professional networking and groundbreaking science to explore the richness of the city. Philadelphia is home to several historical and cultural must-sees including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, The Reading Terminal Market, and the Rocky statue. The city is scattered with sculptures, beautiful pieces of art, hip breweries, and tasteful restaurants. Isaac and I were delightfully reunited with Ian Greenland, Jeremy Bigalke, and Joshua Gonzalez, fellow Huskies that are dispersed throughout the country. Reconnecting with friends, colleagues, and fellow scientists from all over the country was extremely informative and electrifying. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to represent the Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology Department during my time in Philadelphia.  

This post is dedicated to showcasing the research of master’s students Carmen Scarfone and Isaac Lennox, and PhD student Isaac Wedig. Carmen and Isaac presented their work to colleagues and faculty during February’s KIP Seminar. Read their abstract on what they found from analyzing Exercise is Medicine on Campus programs throughout the United States.

Physical inactivity is in itself, is a major public health issue. Four out of every five US adults do not meet the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) physical activity guidelines of 150 minutes of moderate level intensity. In rural, non-metro areas, physical activity is even lower than the national average. To counteract these public health problems, the ACSM created Exercise is Medicine on Campus (EIM-OC), which is a global health initiative that calls upon colleges and universities to promote and increase physical activities. Exercise is Medicine on Campus fulfills this by promoting the health benefits of physical activity through bronze level status, and the use of education initiatives for silver level campuses. Gold level campuses take it a step further by incorporating exercise as a vital sign in the clinical setting.
Our purpose was to perform a National analysis of the 131 recognized EIM-OC programs in the United States. The programs were stratified by state, as well as metro and non-metro counties defined by the United States department of agriculture. Of 131 U.S. colleges and universities with a recognized EIM-OC program, 59 were gold, 53 were silver, and 19 were bronze level status. Thirty-five states had at least one EIM-OC program. Stratified by state, the most EIM-OC programs were California (12), Pennsylvania (9), and Michigan (8). Twenty-six states had at least one EIM-OC gold level program with California (7) and Michigan (5) having the most. The average population for a city with an EIM-OC program was 274,071 and 237,755 for cities with gold programs. Our analysis found that out of the 131 U.S. colleges and universities with a recognized EIM-OC program, only 11 of the 150 or 8% of all EIM-OC programs are located in non-metro counties. Additionally, only 6 out of 59 or 10% of gold EIM-OC programs are located in non-metro counties.
Two thirds or about 66% of US states have an EIM-OC program – however, 92% are located in metro counties. Efforts to promote physical activity during the pandemic are especially important in rural communities, where over 46 million Americans reside. Compared to urban and suburban residents, those living in rural areas have lower physical activity levels. Even though rural communities typically possess fewer resources, the U.S. Department of Education identifies over 500 colleges and universities that are located in rural areas. These institutions may be able to help provide valuable resources for promoting and facilitating physical activity in their surrounding rural communities such as Michigan Technological university starting the Up and Moving Program.