Graduate student wins American Kinesiology Association writing award

Published: March 02, 2020

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School of Kinesiology graduate student Sarah Brinkerhoff is the recipient of the American Kinesiology Association’s Graduate Student Writing Award.

Brinkerhoff’s paper, “Words matter: instructions dictate ‘self-selected’ walking speed in young adults” was published in Gait & Posture last year. It is a methods paper written to help inform the field on how researchers can best reliably collect walking data.

“We found that the instructions we as researchers give our participants on how to walk in the lab (for example, ‘walk at your typical speed’) greatly affect walking speed,” said Brinkerhoff. “Therefore, it’s important that researchers are providing consistent instructions to participants within a study and across the field so that we may reliably compare walking speeds between populations and between labs.”

The award honors a select number of graduate students who are the first author on a published article based on their research. These students have demonstrated an exceptional ability to conduct and disseminate research interest in the field of kinesiology that has the potential for making a significant impact on the field.

Submitted by: Miranda Nobles