Photo by Paul Horton       

Just before he went to sleep, Robert Smith ’10 (ED) drank a 16-ounce glass of water.

When he woke up, he downed another for good measure, and by 9 a.m. Smith is breaking a sweat stacking cartons.    

It is fair to say few carton stackers have ever approached their task quite so zealously.

Each box Smith picks up is a hefty 45 pounds, the weight of a standard crate of army supplies, and he has to lift each one to the height of a truck bed, about chest-high.

Every time he stacks a box on the bed there is another waiting for him.

This drill is most efficient if he adheres to a precision three-beat count—about 12 metronomic repetitions a minute. 

Squat. Lift. Stack. Squat. Lift. Stack.

But efficiency is easier said than done. It is hard to get your breath in the 104-degree heat and equatorial humidity.

The boxes start to feel a few ounces heavier each time he lifts one.

Sweat drips off Smith’s forehead and into his eyes.

It doesn’t help he is encumbered by monitors to measure his metabolism and to make sure he doesn’t overheat.

Squat. Lift. Stack.

Some water would taste good.

Smith is a UConn freshman from Pennsylvania who plans to major in strength and conditioning, one of the undergraduate degree programs offered through the department of kinesiology in the Neag School of Education.

A multi-faceted discipline, kinesiology is the science of human movement.

Professionals in the field combine knowledge from several inter-related fields of interest — human anatomy and physiology, exercise physiology and psychology, and physical therapy — in order to evaluate and treat problems related to the musculoskeletal system.

The box-lifting drill is a good example of the search for knowledge.

It is part of a research project for the U.S. Army to evaluate how people perform routine physical tasks in extreme heat and/or humidity.

Understanding how hydration in various conditions can increase efficiency and endurance will help service military personnel who work in extreme conditions around the world.

It is one of many studies conducted each year in a department whose highly regarded faculty, productivity, and graduate students led the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education to declare UConn’s doctoral program the best in the nation.

Carl Maresh, professor and department head of kinesiology, discusses a bone mineral density scan with a graduate assistant in his laboratory.

Photo by Paul Horton

The department began its rise to national recognition under the direction of Carl Maresh, professor of kinesiology and head of the department, who arrived in 1985 with a charge to put UConn’s human performance laboratory on the map.

 “I had one goal when I came here,” he says.

“I wanted to make our laboratory the number one exercise laboratory in New England.”

With an established reputation from his days managing outpatient cardiac rehabilitation at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City and conducting contract research for the military at the Midwest Research Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency, Maresh began to retool the program then known as the department of sport and leisure studies.

Soon top faculty and students began arriving at UConn to further expand the increasingly rigorous academic standards in what became the department of sport, leisure and exercise sciences.

When Gampel Pavilion opened in 1990, UConn gained the largest on-campus athletic arena in New England and related academic disciplines benefited from the associated facilities needed to continue their pursuit of excellence. Maresh was named department head in 1998 and the program was renamed the department of kinesiology.

Research is an important component of the department, and the U.S. military is just one organization that can benefit from such investigation.

For example, four years ago, after the heat stroke death of Minnesota Vikings tackle Korey Stringer, members of UConn’s football team participated in an innovative heat acclimatization study conducted by UConn researchers Doug Casa and Larry Armstrong.

Before practice, UConn players swallowed pills containing computer chips that were read by researchers with a hand-held sensor.

They provided, for the first time, valuable data on players’ internal body temperatures recorded during actual play and helped Casa and Armstrong prepare recommendations for the NCAA about preventing injuries and reducing the likelihood of heat stroke.

With a faculty whose members include leading experts in nearly all aspects of exercise science, environmental physiology, nutrition and sport management, the department juggles a wide range of research programs.

One of the University’s most productive researchers is William Kraemer, professor of kinesiology, who began his academic career at UConn before moving to Penn State and Ball State, where he became renowned as an expert in exercise physiology, sports medicine, and strength and conditioning.

William Kraemer, professor of kinesiology, left, and Jerry Martin, strength and conditioning coach, meeting in the Polo Family Strength and Conditioning Center, located in The Burton Family Football Complex and Mark R. Shenkman Training Center.

Photo by Paul Horton

He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and chairman of NASA’s oversight committee on strength training for astronauts and cosmonauts at the International Space Station.

Additionally, he serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.

Since his return to Storrs in 1999, UConn has attracted several million dollars in research funding.

“Bill may be the most recognized exercise science professional in the world,” Maresh asserts with confidence.

The department’s primary research laboratories include the Human Performance Laboratory — with specialty areas in exercise biochemistry, exercise physiology, muscle physiology, metabolism and nutrition and performance testing — and the Laboratory for Sport Management and Sociology.

The labs provide UConn faculty and students the ability to conduct the most comprehensive human performance research of any program in the nation.

The strengths of the department go beyond its research capabilities — its exercise science program is considered one of the best in the nation, the sport management program is gaining increasing national attention and the athletic training program is accredited by the National Athletic Trainers Association.

Because the department is so highly regarded in the field, graduates enjoy a 100 percent placement rate.

“In the last nine years, we’ve been able to dramatically boost the entire department’s profile,” Maresh says.

 “It has involved a lot of hard work and some difficult decisions about realignment of our programs and resources. That makes the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education ranking all the more gratifying. Now we’re pursuing a ranking by the National Research Council, which recognizes kinesiology programs nationally. That would be another important feather in our hat, and we’re very optimistic.”

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Testing in the microchemistry laboratory.

Photo by Paul Horton

Research projects provide learning opportunities for faculty and students alike. All kinesiology faculty are engaged in some form of research, and the department’s increasingly high national and international profile attracts research funds from many sources. Recent research topics include: