In my final semester of 2015, I interned as a surf study
research assistant for the kinesiology department at California State
University San Marcos. The surf study was an ongoing studying, which was conducted
and continued three years ago. The past research has focused on whether surfing
had an effect on cardiovascular diseases. Now, most of our studies were
conducted in a swim flume, which is manufactured by endless pool and located behind
Science Hall 2 at California State University San Marcos.
Currently, our research team consists of a team of 15 summer interns, whom are all supervised by Professor Sean Newcomer and Professor Jeff Nessler. The study we conducted for this summer was a challenging study for surfers, which related to the impact of surfboard volume on metabolic and mechanical efficiency. This study was test metabolic differences between paddling with a low volume surfboard versus a high volume surfboard. This study takes place in an outdoor swim flume, which located behind Science Hall 2. Each subject is going to padding on five surfboards inside the flume. These five surfboards have different thickness even they look the same. We will put a heart rate monitor and a mask on subject to measure their heart rate and VO2. The study will last 90 minutes.
I have learned a great deal of information being an intern for the Kinesiology Department as a research assistant.
I was in charge of data analysis and my internship responsibilities included: help all lab assistants with data analysis, save all finished videos on both the master computer and the blue hard drive, and keep data organized. Data analysis seems easy for a lot professors, but I believed that my current internship responsibilities were very challenging because my team and I overcame lots difficulties during data analysis so far.
One lab assistant inspired me at my internship site. Data analysis was very boring for most lab assistants because we had to digitize over 500 frames per videos. Most of my co-interns quitted data analysis after they finished digitizing one video and they informed me their eyes were burning. However one of my lab assistant finished digitizing three videos in 3 hours without any rest. I was surprised and asked how he did it without taking any break. He told me that his eyes were burning too; however, he kept focused and finished all three videos. I appreciated the special lesson he taught me today: there is not a fast way to finish your work, except keep focus.
Moreover, I learned that we should always consider more than one factor when we conduct a study. Since the surf study relates to the impact of surfboard volume on metabolic and mechanical efficiency, I believe we should only collect VO2 max and heart rate as our data. But, my first job was measure the temperature of the flume every three minute. Moreover, my teammates tried to convince every subject wear a wetsuit during the experiment. At the beginning, I did not understand why I have to measure temperatures every three minute and why every subject should wear a wetsuit. After talking to Dr. Newcomer, I realized I can answer these two questions by using the knowledge I learned in the KINE 326 class. First, our metabolism increases when temperature increases. Therefore, in order to maintain correct data, we need to make sure temperatures staying the same during the experiment. Second, people shiver when they feel cold because shivering increases body temperature. Therefore, in order to maintain correct temperatures, subjects should wear wetsuits during experiment. I was happy because I was able to use my knowledge in this internship. Moreover, physiology exists every aspect of our daily life.
Currently, our research team consists of a team of 15 summer interns, whom are all supervised by Professor Sean Newcomer and Professor Jeff Nessler. The study we conducted for this summer was a challenging study for surfers, which related to the impact of surfboard volume on metabolic and mechanical efficiency. This study was test metabolic differences between paddling with a low volume surfboard versus a high volume surfboard. This study takes place in an outdoor swim flume, which located behind Science Hall 2. Each subject is going to padding on five surfboards inside the flume. These five surfboards have different thickness even they look the same. We will put a heart rate monitor and a mask on subject to measure their heart rate and VO2. The study will last 90 minutes.
I have learned a great deal of information being an intern for the Kinesiology Department as a research assistant.
I was in charge of data analysis and my internship responsibilities included: help all lab assistants with data analysis, save all finished videos on both the master computer and the blue hard drive, and keep data organized. Data analysis seems easy for a lot professors, but I believed that my current internship responsibilities were very challenging because my team and I overcame lots difficulties during data analysis so far.
One lab assistant inspired me at my internship site. Data analysis was very boring for most lab assistants because we had to digitize over 500 frames per videos. Most of my co-interns quitted data analysis after they finished digitizing one video and they informed me their eyes were burning. However one of my lab assistant finished digitizing three videos in 3 hours without any rest. I was surprised and asked how he did it without taking any break. He told me that his eyes were burning too; however, he kept focused and finished all three videos. I appreciated the special lesson he taught me today: there is not a fast way to finish your work, except keep focus.
Moreover, I learned that we should always consider more than one factor when we conduct a study. Since the surf study relates to the impact of surfboard volume on metabolic and mechanical efficiency, I believe we should only collect VO2 max and heart rate as our data. But, my first job was measure the temperature of the flume every three minute. Moreover, my teammates tried to convince every subject wear a wetsuit during the experiment. At the beginning, I did not understand why I have to measure temperatures every three minute and why every subject should wear a wetsuit. After talking to Dr. Newcomer, I realized I can answer these two questions by using the knowledge I learned in the KINE 326 class. First, our metabolism increases when temperature increases. Therefore, in order to maintain correct data, we need to make sure temperatures staying the same during the experiment. Second, people shiver when they feel cold because shivering increases body temperature. Therefore, in order to maintain correct temperatures, subjects should wear wetsuits during experiment. I was happy because I was able to use my knowledge in this internship. Moreover, physiology exists every aspect of our daily life.