Funded Research Projects

Kinesiology's Dr. van Emmerik and research team

Click the tabs below for more information on currently funded, ongoing research projects led by faculty in the Kinesiology department.

Movement Observation in Children and Adolescents (MOCA) Study

Accelerometers have been embraced by the scientific community as valid and reliable physical activity (PA) assessment tools. This is especially true in some sub-populations, such as children, who lack the ability to self-report their behaviors. Tremendous progress has been made in the objective assessment of PA and sedentary behavior (SB). Several measurement challenges remain that limit our ability to identify; dose-response associations with disease and risk factors, prevalence and determinants of these important health behaviors, changes in behavior due to time and intervention efforts.

To overcome these challenges, the Movement Observation in Children and Adolescents (MOCA) Study will use novel direct observation calibration procedures that will leverage the richness of three axes of raw acceleration data during free-living calibration activities, from wrist- and hip-worn accelerometers. Consistent with current PA recommendations for youth, the proposed study will focus on calibrating and validating accelerometer output to quantify intensity and duration of PA and identifying specific predominant modes of activity (e.g., sedentary time, locomotion, and fine/gross motor activity).

Our primary goal is to follow best-practices data collection and analysis procedures to develop a comprehensive set of accelerometer algorithms that will accurately and precisely estimate minutes of various intensities of PA and mode of activity from hip- and wrist-worn accelerometers in children and adolescents (18 months to 21 years old), using video recorded direct observation during free-living activities as the criterion measure.

The MOCA Study is a cross-campus collaboration fostered by the new Center for Personalized Health Monitoring (CPHM), one of three centers in the Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) including; John Sirard and Patty Freedson (Kinesiology), and John Staudenmayer (Mathematics & Statistics). The MOCA Study is funded by a five-year, $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Additional information can be found on the Physical Activity and Health Lab website.

Food, Activity, Screens, and Teens (FAST) Study

The United States has experienced a two to three fold increase in pediatric obesity since the 1970’s. To date, school-based interventions to prevent and treat overweight and obesity have realized only limited success.

A growing body of research suggests that friends tend to share similar weight status as well as weight-related behaviors such as physical activity, screen time, and diet. However, the mechanisms underlying this clustering of behaviors and outcomes among friends remain unclear. Similar students may become friends, friends may be exposed to similar activities and environments, or friends may affect each other’s behavior directly. A better understanding of these phenomena would facilitate design of more effective health interventions tailored to the social environments of adolescents.

The purpose of this study is to help us understand patterns of weight related behaviors (and health outcomes) across diverse cohorts of students. The research team will collect and analyze friendship and health behavior data among 6^th to 8^th grade students in four middle schools. Data will be collected several times each academic year allowing researchers to observe the interplay of health behavior and the social environment over time.

Once the data are collected, cutting edge statistical models will be used to rigorously analyze the co-evolution of patterns of friendships and weight-related behaviors. Using findings from those analyses, computer models will be developed to simulate these processes operating over time. Those models will provide a test bed to explore potential intervention scenarios on the weight related behaviors and adolescent health in schools.

The FAST Study is a cross-campus collaboration fostered by the Computational Social Science Institute (CSSI) and includes Co-Principal Investigators John Sirard (Kinesiology) and James Kitts (Sociology), with Co-Investigators Mark Pachucki (Sociology), Lindiwe Sibeko (Nutrition), and Krista Gile (Mathematics & Statistics).

The FAST Study is funded by a five-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Misfit Change

Consumer physical activity trackers continue to increase in popularity, 82 million units are expected to be sold by 2019. Despite the popularity of these units by consumers and a growing number of research studies relying on them, there is a dearth of evidence regarding their accuracy and precision in estimating activity. Moreover, there is no research examining the ability of consumer activity trackers to detect changes in activity.

In the Misfit Change study, we are determining the utility of the Misfit Shine (consumer activity tracker; MS) in detecting changes in physical activity under several conditions. We are testing the MS during three simulated free-living laboratory conditions (seated office work; sitting plus 30-minute walk; sitting plus 30-minute jog) and two free-living conditions (1 week with no purposeful exercise/activity; 1 week of meeting physical activity recommendations). The overall goal of the proposed research is to provide empirical evidence supporting the use of the MS as a tool to assess change in habitual physical activity.

Misfit Change is a cross-campus collaboration facilitated by the new Center for Personalized Health Monitoring (CPHM), one of three centers in the Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS). Investigators include John Sirard and Patty Freedson (Kinesiology), and John Staudenmayer (Mathematics & Statistics). Additional information can be found on the Physical Activity and Health Lab website.

The MS Neuromotor Test: a Non-Ambulatory Measure of Sensorimotor Function to Identify and Track Progressive MS

The goal of our study is to develop a test of sensorimotor function in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) to accurately track symptom progression and discriminate between individuals who have progressive and non-progressive MS. Many individuals with MS have sensory loss and difficulty sensing body position, and these deficits can impair balance and motor function. This research builds on our previous work supported by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) in which we investigated the sensorimotor changes during balance and walking tasks in individuals with the non-progressive form of MS.

To achieve this goal we will perform the following experiments, which have been divided into two parts. In Part I, we will determine which measures of sensation (skin sensation, body awareness) and motor function (rapid foot tapping) best differentiate between individuals with progressive and non-progressive MS and thereby create the MS Neuromotor Test. In Part II, we will follow participants for two years using the sensorimotor measures from Part I to determine how sensation and motor function change in those with progressive MS by repeating these measurements every six months. Three study groups (with 30 participants each) will be recruited: one with individuals who have progressive MS, one with individuals who have non-progressive MS, and one with individuals who do not have MS.

Ultimately, we aim to create a measure that can accurately detect small changes in sensation and motor function, so that clinicians and researchers can develop new effective new therapies aimed at slowing or stopping the worsening of disability in people with MS.

The study is supported by a 3-year, $834,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program on Multiple Sclerosis. The research team is an alliance between the Departments of Kinesiology at UMass Amherst and Clinical Neurology at UMass Worcester. Investigators on the grant are Jane Kent and Richard van Emmerik from UMass Amherst and Carolina Ionete and Carolyn Griffin from UMass Worcester. John Buonaccorsi and Stephanie Jones are consultants. Postdoctoral researcher is Jongil Lim and graduate research assistants are Julianna Averill and Julia Miehm from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

For further information contact the Motor Control website.