A delegation of top sport and exercise scientists from China visited faculty and staff members from Penn State's Department of Kinesiology, the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, and the Golf Teaching and Research Center during the week of Nov. 12 to learn about the latest in scientific research and training in their field.

Representing the China State General Sports Administration, the 25 delegates were given tours of the football program's strength and conditioning and athletic training facilities in the Lasch Football Building, the Multisport Complex, and the Golf Teaching and Research Center in Keller Building during their two-day visit.
The delegates also attended lecture and laboratory presentations on athletic training, injury prevention and management, rehabilitation, nutrition, special considerations for the female athlete, and other topics given by professors and researchers in the Department of Kinesiology. The department's graduate program is ranked No. 1 in the field of kinesiology, according to studies conducted by the National Research Council, and the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

"The Department of Kinesiology is honored to support this delegation," said W.E. Buckley, professor of kinesiology who, along with S. John Miller and Mary Jane De Souza, led the team that organized the visit. "The fact that this group chose to visit us speaks volumes about the strong international reputation gained through the cutting-edge basic and applied research conducted by our faculty."

The Penn State Kinesiology Club, with the support of faculty members in the Department of Kinesiology, is holding the first annual Exercise is Medicine event during the week of Nov. 5 to 8, on the Penn State University Park campus. The event will consist of campus-wide activities that will encourage all Penn State students to "get moving" so they can enjoy a healthier, more physically active lifestyle.

A new Athletic Training major in the Department of Kinesiology has replaced the Athletic Training option, which formerly was part of the Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology degree.

Bradley Hatfield, professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland, will present this year's edition of the Dorothy B. Harris Lecture. His lecture, titled "Brain Processes and Motor Performance Under Stress -- Choking vs. Resilience," will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, in the Bennett Pierce Living Center (room 110 Henderson Building). The event, sponsored by the Department of Kinesiology, the College of Health and Human Development, and Penn State, is free and open to the public.

For centuries, the brain has been the subject of countless philosophical and scientific debates. Recently, many discoveries and theories have cropped up around how the brain works, and those theories are helping us better understand the brain's role in health and behavior. Faculty members in the College of Health and Human Development are advancing several subfields of neuroscience research, looking at topics that include aggression, movement and iron deficiency.

In David Conroy's "Motivation and Emotion in Movement" class, undergraduate students get a unique perspective on research by being participants in their own experiments. Conroy, an associate professor of kinesiology at Penn State, is in charge of what he calls a kinesiology lab that focuses on psychology, where he studies the intersection of emotion, motivation and physical activity levels. He studies people of all ages and physical activity levels, which not only means that students are suitable research subjects, but that his research is accessible -- and interesting -- to many of his classes, particularly for students who want to pursue a career in wellness or fitness.

Two recently published books co-edited by Mark Dyreson, associate professor of kinesiology, explore the role of sport in shaping cultures." The Rise of Stadiums in the Modern United States: Cathedrals of Sport" examines the history of and perceptions surrounding several stadiums built (or planned to be built) in the United States, and "Olympic Legacies: Intended and Unintended" explores how the Olympics have changed cities across the world -- and how those cities have changed the Olympics. Both books are part of Routledge's Sport in the Global Society series.