The Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education hosted the 26th annual Bertha Rosenstadt National Undergraduate Research Conference recently, featuring 126 research presentations from students from across 10 universities, including 19 students from KPE.
“Pursuing a research project is no small feat,” said Gretchen Kerr, dean of tKPE. “From ethics reviews, to proposals, reading and critiquing literature, and collecting and analyzing the data…It’s an enormous but rewarding task.”
The conference gives students the opportunity to present their research across various disciplines in kinesiology to their peers and faculty members.
“This is a great opportunity as an undergrad student to share our work with fellow students and faculty members from across the country,” said Roya Rahmani, a fourth-year KPE student researching the effects of high intensity interval training versus moderate intensity continuous training on cardio metabolic health in perimenopausal females.
Rahmani’s research is taking place under the supervision of Jenna Gillen, assistant professor in exercise physiology at KPE.
In her research, Rahmani shared that she was looking to discover the effects that the two forms of training have on cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition and menopause symptoms.
“Premenopausal females are a very underrepresented community in research,” she said. “It’s an important area because there aren’t enough guidelines for premenopausal women who experience drastic fluctuations of pulmonary hormones, which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Rahmani highlighted the importance of working collaboratively, with her peers in the lab.
Similarly, Heeva Ramezankhani, a third-year KPE student, shared the importance of flawless data collection to make researchers' jobs easier with analyzing and interpreting results. “It’s very tedious but it’s extremely important,” Ramezankhani said.
Ramezankhani is researching the effect of physical limb characteristics on blood flow and muscle oxygenation.
“There are individual differences in characteristics in limbs around your leg and we’re looking at oxygen delivery.”
In her research, Ramezankhani combined two technologies to measure how physical limb characteristics such as adipose tissue around the area of measurement, as well as melanin and muscle mass in the leg, affect measurements from the two devices being used to measure characteristics.
Ramezankhani also highlighted the work that was done by all involved leading up to the presentations.
“It’s nerve-racking but we’ve all worked hard to be here and it feels good to take pride in what we’ve done.”
Earning an award for their research was KPE student Dylan Silver. Silver’s research, done under the supervision of Professor Kelly Arbour-Nicitopoulos, explored concussion symptom profiles and patterns among Canadian Special Olympic athletes.
Capping off the event was keynote speaker Andrew Ramsook. Ramsook is a former KPE student and current assistant professor at the University of Waterloo. His presentation titled Research on Inspiration highlighted his journey as a researcher and the inspiration he found, showcasing the importance of friendships and mentorships, not cutting corners, sticking to a plan and surrounding yourself with people that motivate you.
“A good environment is key and it takes a village,” he said. “It’s important to not neglect our own role in meeting that kind of environment.”