HBIO Capstone Awards for academic year 2021-2022: Capstone awards are given to the students who have obtained the highest grade in classes that have a capstone project. For academic year 2021-2022, HEB has awarded capstone awards in HBIO 406, 407, and 408.
HBIO 406 (Theory and Method in Human Evolutionary Biology): Arnav Rashid
Arnav’s project was on the evolution of gut microbiome composition in the human gastrointestinal tract. I looked into why humans initially formed a symbiotic relationship with gut microbiota, and how that relationship has been impacted by cultural changes such as the development of agriculture and the use of antibiotics.
HBIO 407 (Endocrinology and Metabolism): Cindy Gu
The purpose of Cindy’s project was to explore the differences between fructose and glucose metabolism as it pertains to postprandial plasma glucose and insulin fluctuations. This was done specifically to clear the misconception that “natural” sweeteners such as agave are a healthier substitute compared to traditional refined sugars. The project was inspired by the content of BISC407, especially its emphasis on the health issues that arise from the modern dietary landscape of the American diet (e.g. obesity) and dispelling their myths.
HBIO 408 (Biomechanics): Leah Wootton
Leah’s capstone project was a biomechanical analysis of the countermovement jump in the context of five sports: the ballet sauté, a soccer header, a volleyball block, a basketball jump shot, and a standard squat jump. Using joint acceleration sensors and force plates, I compared the physics of the legs’ movements to determine whether context affects which muscles are recruited in order to produce the jump.
HBIO Course Awards for academic year 2021-2022: Course awards are given to the students who have obtained the highest grade in the class. For academic year 2021-2022, HEB has awarded course awards in the following HBIO classes:
Fall 2021
HBIO 301 (Anatomy): Serena Stephens
HBIO 420 (Applied Human Physiology): Karina Kramer
HBIO 441 (Prevention of Athletic Injuries): Cassandra Man
Spring 2022
HBIO 301 (Anatomy): Shana Bush
HBIO 401 (Physiology & Biomechanics of Movement): Albert Li
HBIO 405 (Evolutionary Medicine): Woori Lee
HBIO 420 (Applied Human Physiology): Aric Li
HBIO 435 (Neurobiology of Feeding Behavior & Obesity): Bijana Garcia
The mission of both The Biomechanics Initiative and National Biomechanics Day (NBD) is to advance Biomechanics science and education by increasing the awareness and appreciation of Biomechanics within the worldwide high school community. NBD 2022 will be our seventh NBD celebration following the hugely successful and enjoyable events the previous six years. These Biomechanics celebrations involved over 32,000 high school students and teachers and were held in Biomechanics labs around the world (mostly live but some virtually in 2021). Dr. Jill McNitt-Gray, Professor, in the Human and Evolutionary Biology Section in the Department of Biological Sciences, was a founding member of this event initiated in 2016.
For the USC Biomechanics Research Lab, NBD 2022 became a year-long event culminating in biomechanics capstone projects created by seniors at Sato High School in Long Beach, California that will be celebrated on May 2, 2022 with a near-peer mentoring event involving seniors at USC majoring in Human Biology.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z70sJYaA9vpmYMvL-TcnjIxXiRGRL2yV/view
Congratulations to Dr. Jill McNitt-Gray on being elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology.
Monday, May 2, 2022
Lea Decarie-Spain, Postdoctoral Scholar, USC. “Trapping a meal engram in the ventral hippocampus.”
Link for recorded seminar: https://usc.zoom.us/rec/share/vjyz7MLgWPPNgehlcH9RDndTn0TbOqNj-N3X-h57mHn8sEfwz9Fweaa7uVklCdlL.io26vpfKOe_xMoQO
National Biomechanics Day 2022: Monday, May 2, 2022
The mission of both The Biomechanics Initiative and National Biomechanics Day (NBD) is to advance Biomechanics science and education by increasing the awareness and appreciation of Biomechanics within the worldwide high school community. NBD 2022 will be our seventh NBD celebration following the hugely successful and enjoyable events the previous six years. These Biomechanics celebrations involved over 32,000 high school students and teachers and were held in Biomechanics labs around the world (mostly live but some virtually in 2021). Dr. Jill McNitt-Gray, Professor, in the Human and Evolutionary Biology Section in the Department of Biological Sciences, was a founding member of this event initiated in 2016.
For the USC Biomechanics Research Lab, NBD 2022 became a year-long event culminating in biomechanics capstone projects created by seniors at Sato High School in Long Beach, California that will be celebrated on May 2, 2022 with a near-peer mentoring event involving seniors at USC majoring in Human Biology.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z70sJYaA9vpmYMvL-TcnjIxXiRGRL2yV/view