I’m excited to lead the Awards Committee as we feature the outstanding research of our many winners and finalists at the 2023 annual meeting in Knoxville, TN (see full list below for 2023 ASB Award presentations). During the closing ceremonies, we’ll announce the Journal of Biomechanics and Clinical Biomechanics awards and the ASB President’s Award given to President Cham’s favorite poster!

There are a few changes to Award Programming that I want to highlight. First, we have increased the number of finalists competing for the Journal of Biomechanics and Clinical Biomechanics award from two to three finalists! These changes will allow us to further highlight the outstanding science being produced by our membership.

Second, we will hold a plenary session which I unofficially refer to as the ‘Future of ASB’ plenary. We will highlight the ASB Predoctoral and Early Career Achievement Award winners along with junior faculty members who have previously won ASB competitive grants (Junior Faculty Research Award, Up and Comer Award). This is our first time highlighting these competitive grants at our annual meetings. This addition to the Awards plenary will highlight the outstanding science and mentorship opportunities created by these grant programs.

I’d like to thank Missy Morrow for all her help during this Awards Chair transition. I’d also like to thank Rumit Singh Kakar, who had to step down as Awards Chair, but did an amazing job with initial preparations for this year’s award review. Also, a big thank you to our terrific Standing Awards Committee (Dennis Anderson, Kimberly Bigelow, Hugo Giambini, Clare Milner, Missy Morrow, Kota Takahashi) who helped immensely with awards management.

Thank you all for being so helpful during my first year as Awards Chair. A record number of our ASB community volunteered to review grant applications this year (60+ members), and we had a wonderful pool of applicants to consider this year. For each individual award or competitive grant, a panel at least five active and current members of ASB (representing the five different disciplines of our society) was assembled. Each committee member independently reviewed the nomination packets and submitted their rankings and scorings electronically to the Chair without discussion amongst the committee members. The scorings were based on rubrics specific to each Award, which will be made available on the ASB website this Fall

Finally, please start planning to apply for 2024 ASB Awards right now! Our first round of deadlines is quickly approaching in December 2023, and so many of our members are deserving of recognition!

To read more about our 2023 ASB Award Winners, please visit the ASB website. Please also join us for these sessions in Knoxville (listed in chronological order):

Wednesday, August 9th

Goel Award for Translational Research in Biomechanics: Karl Zelik, Vanderbilt University
9:30 – 11:00 AM ET

Jean Landa Pytel Award for Diversity Mentorship in Biomechanics
: Robin Queen, Virginia Tech
9:30 – 11:00 AM ET

Founders’ Award
: Gregory S. Sawicki, Georgia Tech
9:30 – 11:00 AM ET

ASB Pre-Doctoral Achievement Award: Owen Pearl, Carnegie Mellon University
2:30 – 3:45 PM PM ET

ASB Early Career Achievement Award: Benjamin Binder-Markey, Drexel University
2:30 – 3:45 PM PM ET

Junior Faculty Research Award (2021 Awardee): Brittany Heintz Walters, Seattle University
2:30 – 3:45 PM PM ET

Up and Comer Award (2022 Co-Awardee): Manuel Enrique Hernandez, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2:30 – 3:45 PM PM ET 

Thursday, August 10th

Journal Awards session presentations
9:30 – 11:00 AM ET

Journal of Biomechanics Award Finalists
Developmental plasticity of muscle architecture in response to chronic limb loading
Kavya Katugam-Dechene, Talayah Johnson, Stephen Piazza, Jonas Rubenson

Cortical error assessment is greater in dancers than nondancers
Kennedy Kerr, Scott Boebinger, Jasmine Mirdamadi, Michael Borich, Lena Ting

Towards gait symmetry improvement using automatic robotic assistance personalization control for active hip exoskeletons
Qiang Zhang, Ming Liu, Xikai Tu, Jennie Si, Michael Lewek, He (Helen) Huang

Clinical Biomechanics Award Finalists

Two minutes is sufficient to characterize the viscoelastic properties of the human lower birth canal during the first stage of labor
Mariana Masteling, John DeLancey, James Ashton-Miller

Plantarflexor central drive symmetry is associated with poststroke walking function in community ambulators
Ashley Collimore, Jonathan Alvarez, David Sherman, Conor Walsh, Louis Awad

 High intensity gait and balance training improves control of center of mass motion during walking in people with incomplete spinal cord injury
Anna Shafer, Shamali Dusane, Heather Henderson, Keith Gordon

Hay Award Symposium: Richard Neptune, University of Texas at Austin
2:30 – 4:00 PM PM ET
(Supporting talks by Anne Silverman, Jessica Allen and Lena Ting) 

Friday, August 11th

Borelli Award Lecture: Ellen Arruda, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
August 11, 8:15-9:15 AM ET

Due to unexpected travel limitations, the Borelli lecture may need to be delivered with an alternative format. The ASB Executive Board deliberated and voted to allow, if necessary, either a live-streamed lecture via video conferencing, or a webinar at a later date