Faculty

About our faculty:

Our faculty actively publish in the top journals in the field and routinely present their work at national and international conferences. Six faculty are Fellows of the American College of Sports Medicine and four have been elected Fellows of the prestigious National Academy of Kinesiology. Several of the faculty serve on multiple editorial boards for professional journals. All faculty members teach undergraduate and graduate courses and direct independent research programs. Several faculty participate in the university-wide Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate programs.

Faculty expertise extends to many pressing kinesiology concerns such as physical activity and health, including fitness, health and wellness, intervention, and the measurement of physical activity; motor systems, including sensory-motor control and biomechanics; and physiology, including muscle damage, cardiovascular health and recovery, muscle fatigue and aging, and energy metabolism.


Faculty directory:

  • Sofiya Alhassan

    Professional Title:
    Assistant Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    alhassan@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-3475
    Campus Address:
    150 Totman Building
    Education:

    B.S., Stetson University, 1996; M.S., Auburn University, 2000; Ph.D., Auburn University, 2004; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford University School of Medicine

  • Katherine Boyer

    Professional Title:
    Assistant Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    kboyer@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-1717
    Campus Address:
    25 A Totman Building
    Education:

    B.Sc., Queen’s University,2001; Ph.D., University of Calgary, 2006; Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University.

  • Barry Braun

    Professional Title:
    Associate Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    bbraun@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-577-0146
    Campus Address:
    107 Totman Building
    Personal Website:
    http://people.umass.edu/~braunlab/index.htm
    Education:

    B.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1982; M.S., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1990; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1993; Post-doctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 1994-96; Post-doctoral Fellow and Asst. Director...

  • Judi Bruno LaBranche

    Professional Title:
    Lecturer
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    jblabran@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-577-1520
    Campus Address:
    101 Totman Building
    Education:

    B.S., Springfield College, 1992; M.S., Springfield College, 1994

  • Graham Caldwell

    Professional Title:
    Associate Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    gc@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-0017
    Campus Address:
    105 Totman Building
    Personal Website:
    http://blogs.umass.edu/gc
    Education:

    B.Sc. (Honours), University of Waterloo, 1978; M.Sc., University of Waterloo, 1980; Ph.D., Simon Fraser University, 1987

  • Stuart R. Chipkin

    Professional Title:
    Research Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    schipkin@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-3352
    Campus Address:
    215 Arnold House
    Education:

    B.S., Emory University, 1978; M.D., SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 1982; Fellowship in Endocrinology, University of Massachusetts Worcester, 1988

  • Priscilla M. Clarkson

    Professional Title:
    Distinguished Professor and Dean of Commonwealth Honors College
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    clarkson@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-577-3902
    Campus Address:
    504 Goodell
    Personal Website:
    http://www.umass.edu/mbil/
    Education:

    B.S., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1969; M.S., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1973; Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1977

  • Edward (Ned) Debold

    Professional Title:
    Assistant Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    edebold@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-4944
    Campus Address:
    158 Totman Building
    Education:

    B.S.E. Seton Hall University, 1992; M.S. University of Massachusetts, 1997; Ph.D., Marquette University, 2002; Post-Doctoral Fellowship, University of Vermont, 2008

  • Eliza Frechette

    Professional Title:
    Lecturer
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    efrechet@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-1514
    Campus Address:
    25 Totman Building
    Education:

    B.A., Mount Holyoke College (2000); M.S., Smith College (2010)

  • Patty Freedson

    Professional Title:
    Professor and Department Chair
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    psf@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-2620
    Campus Address:
    111 Totman Building
    Personal Website:
    http://www.umass.edu/physicalactivity/newsite/index.html
    Education:

    B.S., University of Michigan; M.S., University of Michigan; Ph.D, University of Michigan; Post-doctoral training at the Institute of Environmental Stress, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Jennifer L. Gordon

    Professional Title:
    Lecturer
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    jlgordon@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-7904
    Campus Address:
    207 Arnold House
    Education:

    B.S., Psychology, SUNY Oneonta; M.S., Sport Psychology, Georgia Southern University; Ph.D., Exercise Physiology, Springfield College

  • Joseph Hamill

    Professional Title:
    Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    jhamill@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-2245
    Campus Address:
    23 Totman Building
    Education:

    B.A., York University, Canada; B.S., Concordia University, Canada; M.S., University of Oregon; Ph.D., University of Oregon

  • Gary Kamen

    Professional Title:
    Professor and Associate Graduate Program Director
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    kamen@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-0784
    Campus Address:
    160A Totman Building
    Education:

    B.S., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1974; M.S., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1975; Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1980

  • Jane Kent-Braun

    Professional Title:
    Professor and Graduate Program Director
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    janekb@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-9477
    Campus Address:
    108 Totman Building
    Personal Website:
    http://people.umass.edu/muscle/
    Education:

    B.A., California State University, Long Beach,1980; M.A., California State University, Long Beach, 1983; Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1987

  • Frank Rife

    Professional Title:
    Associate Professor, Undergraduate Program Director and Chief Academic Advisor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    frife@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-2634
    Campus Address:
    109 Totman Building
    Education:

    B.S., Trinity University (1970); M.S., Brigham Young University (1971); Ph.D., The Ohio State University (1973)

  • Brian R. Umberger

    Professional Title:
    Associate Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    umberger@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-1436
    Campus Address:
    106 Totman Building
    Personal Website:
    http://www.umass.edu/locomotion
    Education:

    B.S., Central Connecticut State University, 1993; M.S., Springfield College, 1997; Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2003

  • Richard Van Emmerik

    Professional Title:
    Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    rvanemmerik@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-0325
    Campus Address:
    160 Totman Building
    Personal Website:
    http://www.umass.edu/motorcontrol/
    Education:

    B.S., Vrije Universiteit, the Netherlands, 1984; Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1990; Post-Doctoral Fellow: Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1990-1993

  • Sarah Witkowski

    Professional Title:
    Assistant Professor
    Department:
    Kinesiology
    Email:
    switkows@kin.umass.edu
    Telephone:
    413-545-6102
    Campus Address:
    106 Totman Building
    Personal Website:
    http://people.umass.edu/switkows/Laboratory_Home.html
    Education:

    B.S., The College of William & Mary,1995; M.S., University of Delaware, 2000; Ph.D., University of Maryland, 2008; Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Maryland, 2010