Student Author AMA Series
The ASB Student Committee is pleased to announce the novel Student Author AMA Series, a series of online events by and for students. The AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) series features students that have recently published a paper talking to other students about their research and sharing their experience with the publishing process.
We intend to schedule a monthly AMA event. Details on each upcoming events are available in the calendar listing below.
All are welcomed to attend the AMA Series. There are no fees to participate but participants must register to attend.
Call for presenters
Did you publish a paper recently? Want to broaden the impact of your work? Want to share your experience and help other students learn about the writing and publishing process? We want to hear from you! Apply to be a speaker in this series.
Application Process
1. If you are interested in presenting, please apply to be a speaker via the application form
2. The ASB Student Committee will review applications and work with presenters to find a date/time to host their AMA.
Presentation Guidelines
- These events entail professional development, networking, and a research presentation rolled into one! Presentations are not typical research talks. Instead, the focus is on what presenting authors learned from the research and publication process, with some discussion dedicated to barriers they may have encountered.
- Our goal is for students to come together to discuss tips and tricks of conducting and publishing research in grad school (question generation, data collection, data management, collaboration, paper writing, etc.).
- Sessions will be ~60 min long with up to 20 min of presentation from the author(s), followed by Q&A from the audience.
- The Student Committee will be present to introduce the speaker, start the session, and facilitate Q&A.
The presenting author will send 5 highlights from their paper to the Student Committee to publicize the event via the ASB Twitter feed and ASB Monthly E-blast. - If the presenting author is open to having the session recorded, the presentation portion and beginning of the Q&A will be recorded. The recording will then be stopped, so any other questions can be asked that askers prefer not to be recorded. Recorded sessions will be uploaded to the ASB YouTube Channel, with links to specific sessions in the listing below.
If you have any questions, please reach out to the committee at asbstudentrep@asbweb.org.
Upcoming AMA’s
No upcoming AMAs
Previous AMA’s
Episode 10
Hosted by: Matt Ruder, McMaster University
Paper: Reliability of waveforms and gait metrics from multiple outdoor wearable inertial sensors collections in adults with knee osteoarthritis
Date and time: Wednesday, December 6th, 7-8pm ET (6-7pm CT)
Episode 09: Lessons learned from perturbing people, researching recovery, and communicating conclusions
Hosted by: Jenny Leestma, Georgia Institute of Technology
Date and time: Thursday, May 18th at 7pm ET (6pm CT)
Episode 08: Processes in modern academia from a Ph.D. perspective
Hosted by: Nate Conner, Mississippi State University
Date and time: Monday March 6th at 5:30pm ET/4:30pm CT
Highlights:
• Publication issues in biomechanics
• Journal selection pros and cons
• Time management
• Creating value through skill acquisition
Episode 07: I think I can, I think I can: the simulated treadmill that could
Presenter: Kayla Pariser, University of Delaware
Title of paper: ‘Development and validation of a framework for predictive simulation of treadmill gait’
Date and time: Nov 7th, 5pm EST
Join us to learn more about tips and tricks for computational modeling, treadmill gait training, and how to keep on chugging in the face of ‘failure.’
Highlights:
- Have you heard of the Journal of Trial & Error? Let’s redefine “failure” in biomechanics research, share our mistakes and struggles, and learn from each other!
- Have a love-hate relationship with computational modeling? Come to the next AMA to discuss tips and tricks to make forward progress one step at a time!
- Think big but start simple! Want to learn how Kayla Pariser & Jill Higginson adapted a model of a block to a model of an adaptive treadmill? Come to the AMA to learn more!
- There are 100+ ways to use a treadmill. Can you name any? Combining experimental and computational techniques may promote improved use of common biomechanics tools.
Episode 06: Performance Impacts of Sustainable Wetsuits
Presenter: Tyler Wiles
Tyler Wiles is joining us from the University of Nebraska – Omaha to talk about his recent work “Foamed neoprene versus thermoplastic elastomer as a wetsuit material: a comparison of skin temperature, biomechanical, and physiological variables“ . Join us to learn more about setting up an experiment to look at multiple variables in multiple conditions in this novel work that investigates whether a more sustainable material could be used in wetsuits without altering the performance of the athlete.
Key Highlights:
- Today’s neoprene wetsuits are flawed in their design and composition.
- Two experiments were conducted to examine if a prototype material, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), is a viable replacement for neoprene using real and simulated paddling sessions.
- Significant skin temperature differences between neoprene and TPE exist, but may not be perceived by the surfer.
- No biomechanical differences exist during simulated paddling with a neoprene or TPE wetsuit.
- Undergraduate research experience/management is beneficial for graduate school!
View recording here: https://youtu.be/TvYHCnu3fIA
Episode 05: Mechanical implications in DMD of changing collagen organization
Ridhi Sahani from the University of Virginia discussed the work behind her recent publication “Diaphragm muscle fibrosis involves changes in collagen organization with mechanical implications in Duchenne muscular dystrophy”. Join us to learn more about the biomechanics of muscle, how you can model on smaller scales, and what it takes to publish this kind of work. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/japplphysiol.00248.2021
Highlights:
- Research is a series of questions, and then some answers, and then more questions!
- The skeletal muscle ECM has a complex (and beautiful!) 3-D architecture and it’s important to consider changes in its structure during fibrosis
- Image-based mechanical modeling allows us to explore structure-function relationships in healthy and diseased skeletal muscle
- SEM images revealed that collagen fibers were oriented transverse to diaphragm muscle, with increased alignment and straightness with fibrosis
- FE models predicted an increase in transverse tissue stiffness with changes in collagen organization during fibrosis
Episode 04: We know when you were running.
John Davis IV from Indiana University – Bloomington will present his recent publication, “CARL: a running recognition algorithm for free-living accelerometer data” where his work was able to accurately identify bouts of running in free-living accelerometry data.
Highlights:
- Wearables are great for studying running biomechanics outside the lab, but only if you know when someone is actually running! With the volume of data our lab collects, we quickly realized we needed an automated way to identify running from raw sensor data.
- Running generates accelerations in the body that have distinctive amplitude and frequency characteristics. We summarized these characteristics with two simple features: peak-to-peak amplitude and dominant frequency.
- Using amplitude and frequency, we built an interpretable algorithm to detect bouts of running as short as three seconds. The simple nature of the algorithm allowed us to understand both its successes and failures on real-world data from new subjects.
- The real tests of any activity recognition algorithm are how well it generalizes to the real world, and how well it performs on data from different labs using different sensors. We used both of these validation strategies to test our model’s accuracy.
- Open source code and open access data make science better for everyone! We benefited enormously from publicly-available external datasets to validate our algorithm. Our code and data are available at github.com/johnjdavisiv/carl and Figshare DOI 10.6084/m9.figshare.17198275
Episode 03: Metabolic cost vs. force generation
Ricky Pimentel from the University of North Carolina discussed his recent work, “Muscle metabolic energy costs while modifying propulsive force generation during walking”, and give some insight into the process to get from experiment through publication.
Highlights:
- Implementing real-time biofeedback can be a useful way to investigate gait modifications.
- Changing propulsive force (while maintaining speed) increases net metabolic power requirements.
- We confirmed the joint work redistribution theory on an individual-muscle level, where reducing propulsive force shifts muscle metabolic powers to the hip.
- OpenSim is a useful resource to visualize & analyze biomechanical data. However, don’t expect to learn it quickly. I spent >6 months learning and failing before making solid progress.
- Building a batch pipeline helps manage large datasets, understand modeling parameters, and build collaborations with others!
Episode 02: Prevention of and recovery from ACL tears
Ling Li will discuss “Falling as a strategy to decrease knee loading during landings: Implications for ACL injury prevention” and Yu Song will discuss “Medial-lateral hip positions predicted kinetic asymmetries during double-leg squats in collegiate athletes following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction”.
Ling Li Highlights:
• Single-leg landings were associated with increased knee loading compared to double-leg landings, particularly when individuals had to constrain their center of mass within their feet.
• The effectiveness of soft landings was limited for single-leg landings compared to double-leg landings.
• Falling demonstrated landing biomechanics associated with the least ACL loading compared to both natural and soft landings.
• When the sports environment allows, falling appears to be an innovative strategy to decrease knee loading when individuals must land with a single leg and sub-optimal body postures.
• Progressive training of controlled and safe falling techniques with an aim to protect the ACL while minimizing other injury risks is warranted in future studies.
Yu Song Highlights:
• Medial-lateral hip positions correlated and predicted kinetic asymmetries during bilateral squats following ACL reconstruction.
• A camera in the frontal plane monitors kinetic asymmetries during bilateral squats following ACL reconstruction.
• A neutral medial-lateral hip position is real-time feedback to decrease kinetic asymmetries during bilateral squats following ACL reconstruction.
• The kinetic asymmetries decreased, and the hip and shoulder positions became more neutral over time following ACL reconstruction.
• Center of pressure and hip position in the sagittal plane might also affect kinetic asymmetries.
Episode 01: Surface-EMG
Andrew Vigotsky from Northwestern University presented his work with sEMG, writing reviews, and the publishing process. Here are two of his recent works in the area:
- Interpreting Signal Amplitudes in Surface Electromyography Studies in Sport and Rehabilitation Sciences
- Longing for a Longitudinal Proxy: Acutely Measured Surface EMG Amplitude is not a Validated Predictor of Muscle Hypertrophy
Highlights:
- Exercise and rehabilitation scientists have long used surface EMG for exercise selection, but are such inferences valid? In this talk, I will detail and dissect the assumptions underlying these inferences.
- Surface EMG is a simple technology, but the data we collect from it are complex. In this talk, I will discuss some of the factors that influence surface EMG amplitudes and thus its interpretability.
- As a student, I’ve written several critical reviews and commentaries, and I think more students should join me. After all, discussion and discourse are at the heart of science, and fresh ideas are necessary for growth.
- Just because a study collects data does not mean it answered the question it intended to. This is unfortunately common, and in this talk, I will discuss a pervasive example from exercise science, along with its implications.
- Publishing is not just about creating knowledge—it’s also about communicating ideas. There are many ways students can get involved and participate in scientific discourse in a way that can advance the field, even without original data.