Proposal

Upon moving from the Davie Campus to Boca 4.5 years ago, the Department of Exercise Science & Health Promotion (ESHP) increased enrollment by 45% with nearly 1000 undergraduates (6^th largest UG program at FAU) and 80 master’s candidates.  The FTE growth by ESHP within the College of Education ranks number one among all seven departments.   In fact, our laboratory based courses (i.e. Exercise Physiology, Neurophysiology of Human Movement, Exercise Testing & Prescription, Kinesiology, Biomechanics) have literally doubled in size since 2009.  While our growth is a testament to the quality of the program and the fact that ESHP is an excellent preparatory program for post graduate studies in physical therapy, physician assistant, chiropractic and Ph.D. programs in exercise science, we are in danger of losing our momentum due to a lack of technology.

Although our department enjoys incredible growth and increasing visibility, we need new equipment in order to stay abreast and/or ahead of our sister institutions as well as private universities (e.g. Barry, Nova) in our service area.  To be more specific, both undergraduate and graduate students in the exercise science program should expect to study and acquire skill regarding the effects of exercise induced stress on physiological systems such as cardiorespiratory, neurophysiological, hormonal, and immune responses.  Our laboratories currently equipment including electrocardiography, metabolic systems (oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production), body composition (underwater weighing, BOD POD, DEXA) and more recently the addition of a small biochemistry area within our metabolic lab.  Again, if we are to continue to grow and provide cutting edge laboratory demonstrations and research opportunities for our students and faculty, we need additional technology.

We are seeking funding for several key instruments that would enable us to conduct histological analysis of tissue obtained from animal and human subjects.  Adding this technology will allow our students to gain valuable experience learning about and how to culture cells/tissue and to isolate exercise induced cellular changes in skeletal and heart muscle.  Moreover, our students and faculty will be able to pursue the latest and most important research themes in exercise science (e.g. muscle damage and immune function, inflammation and obesity). An understanding of how the body responds  to both acute and chronic exercise will provide the knowledge necessary for developing effective interventions (e.g., weight loss and exercise training) for the prevention and treatment of related disorders/diseases such as sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass in aging), obesity, and cardiovascular disease. 

Only costs associated with this project:

Costs:  Hardware –                                                                                                    Quantity                             Item Amount

1 – Meiji MT6000 Epi-Fluorescent Laboratory Microscope                            1                                           13,189.00

               Microscope World SKU (MT6000)

               $13,189.00

2 – Surgical glasses                                                                                                    2                                           2000.00

               Hi RES Plus Surgical Loupes

               Surgical Acuity

               $1000

                                                                                                                                                            Total               15,189.00

The Department of Exercise Science & Health Promotion.