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Kinesiology Students Win NEACSM Awards, Scholarships and College Bowl
Four graduate students from the department of kinesiology received awards and scholarships during the annual New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (NEACSM) Fall Conference held Nov. 8-9 in Providence, Rhode Island.
Doctoral student Christine St. Laurent received two awards: the NEACSM Student Investigator Doctoral Award and the President’s Cup, given for the best research poster presentation at the meeting. The award includes a travel grant of $1,200 as well as the registration fee for St. Laurent to attend the 2019 American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting held May 28-June 1 in Orlando, Forida.
Aurora Foster received the Student Investigator Master’s Award. The award recognizes students at all three degree levels—doctoral, master’s and undergraduate, respectively. The awards are given for student presentations at the meeting and include $500 prizes.
Doctoral student Sarah Burkart received the David N. Camaione Doctoral Scholarship. The criteria for the $1,000 award are academic excellence, professional experience, professional activities such as attending conferences and workshops, publication of peer-reviewed research, and skill in obtaining grants.
Second year master’s student Christopher Moore received the Mark Connolly Memorial Master’s Scholarship. The $750 award is given to a student researching areas of clinical or basic exercise science or sports medicine. Selection is based on academic excellence, work experience, professional activities including professional memberships, and a poster or free communication presentation at the NEACSM annual meeting.
The department also celebrated a victory in this year’s NEACSM College Bowl, which pits teams of undergraduates against each other in a test of sports medicine knowledge. This year’s UMass Amherst team was comprised of Kali Shamaly, Matthew Conlon and Patrycja Bugajska.
“UMass Amherst was a force to be reckoned with,” says Jane Kent, professor and chair of the department.
The team will travel to the ACSM annual meeting in May to compete in the national competition against rival ACSM chapters.