5 minute read
Maximizing Human Potential
By Damon Andrew
When people ask me why interdisciplinary studies matter, I think back to my time as a graduate student. Back then, there was a great deal of conversation around the game of tennis, my favorite sport. Goran Ivanišević had just done the unthinkable and won the 2001 men’s Wimbledon singles title carried by his blazing fast serves. Commentators of the sport began to worry that the game of tennis would no longer be engaging to spectators as professionals began to serve the tennis ball faster and faster, resulting in more aces— when the opponent fails to even make contact with the ball. While certainly an impressive feat, aces hardly make for entertaining spectacle, and so the top minds began to think of ways to change the game.
To give opponents time to react, a number of theories were tested to slow the game down, from decreasing the ball pressure to adding a new marking to the court, thus extending the distance of the serve. Ultimately, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) sanctioned tennis balls that were 6% larger, which would increase the air resistance of the ball.
Around the same time, I began work on a study to examine the effect of ball size on the biomechanics of tennis players. My team and I researched how the change in ball size impacted reaction time, racquet vibration, and muscular activation at ball impact with the new oversized tennis balls. We discovered a great deal of information that could help inform the ITF about the implications of their decision to consider oversized tennis balls; however, all of that became a moot point as professionals and manufacturers alike turned on the idea.
For manufacturers, the problems became quickly apparent. The oversized tennis balls required costly retooling of the manufacturing process, resulting in millions upon millions of dollars of extra expenses. While a 6% increase might not seem like a big change, consider how finely tuned modern manufacturing processes work. A 6% increase meant that manufacturers had to create new molds, new assembly lines, even new ball cans and boxes that could hold the finished product.
At the same time, professionals considered the larger tennis balls to be an ineffective solution. Amateur players, on the other hand, wanted to serve the ball as fast as they could. Any attempt to slow their game down was met with a tepid response. All this resulted in the oversized tennis ball to be one of the largest and costliest manufacturing flops in the history of any sport. It took three years of grant-funded research for my team and I to derive our conclusions for our studies, but it would have taken only three hours for a marketing researcher to realize the oversized tennis ball was bound to fail. While I would have been out of some grant funding, it would have been better for the sport as a whole if that conversation had happened.
Interdisciplinary Vision
I say all of this to hammer the point home that conversations, collaboration, and interdisciplinary work can yield profound results in unique ways. With six departments now under the College, our faculty members are working in a diverse range of disciplines, and yet we are united in a common goal to help maximize human potential. As such, I cannot wait to see the discoveries our faculty make as they engage in conversations with their peers and explore the most pressing problems facing our society. Even if they don’t conduct formal interdisciplinary research, I know that everyday conversations with new colleagues could spur insightful ways of looking at research and teaching. The College’s primary research areas of education, health, and human sciences encapsulate a nearly exhaustive breadth of the human experience. Over the summer, as we began the process of expanding the College, I took a close look at the work of our faculty members and discovered nine subject areas where our faculty could easily collaborate since they were already engaging in common research. These include:
Physical activity, health, and wellbeing
Mindfulness and mental health
Aging and longevity
Adolescent health and education disparities
Family, environments, and student success
Technology, health, and education
Education-based human development
Sport and exercise performance
Health policy and disease prevention
Over time, I anticipate even more interdisciplinary bridges and collaborations will develop. Some of these might even emerge in surprising ways that no one could imagine today. All it takes is one conversation, one right question, one exchange of ideas, and suddenly, our faculty could see things in a completely new light.
Onwards and Upwards, Together
This is not simple wishful thinking; instead, I believe it is our mandate. By most metrics, we are the second largest College on FSU’s campus, an institution that has itself rapidly risen through the ranks to become one of the top universities not just in the Southeast, but in the entire United States. Our College is poised for greatness, and our expansion has provided the infrastructure and support we need to take our research to the next level. I have no doubt that our faculty, staff, and students will lead the way as leaders on FSU’s campus.
Of course, as important as interdisciplinary research is to the future of not just the College but FSU as a whole, I also know that our faculty members are deep thinkers and motivated researchers. Our College has both breadth and depth, and many of our faculty members are well-respected experts in their fields.
It has only been a few months since we began the process of expanding the College, but I will end my thoughts with this observation. Ahead of the fall semester, we hold an annual All-College meeting. As we concluded our business, I took a moment to look around. What I saw was a room full of energetic individuals as new colleagues took a moment to meet one another, and what I heard were the sounds of excited conversation. As a dean there are no sights or sounds as encouraging.
