Athletics

PLAY IT SAFE

BEFORE A RECENT VIRGINIA TECH women’s soccer team training session, David Tegarden and Jay Williams prepared for practice. Accelerometer—check. Gyroscope— check. Heart monitor—check. Global positioning system (GPS) receiver—check. Each athlete affixed a unit containing each of the four instruments to her custom vest. This unit noninvasively records and transmits information, in real-time, to a receiver located adjacent to the playing field by using two-way wireless encryption. For Tegarden, an associate professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems, and Williams, a professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, this data collection helps with their research goal—maximizing athletic performance while minimizing injury risk. Using fractal analysis, a concept developed from business analytics that applies nontraditional mathematics to patterns, Tegarden and Williams are investigating whether a player’s training load leaves evidence, or markers, that warn of the potential for future injury. “Fractal analysis is used in finance to determine stock trends or detect fraud,” Tegarden said. “Injury can be seen as a type of fraud.” The players’ units track and transmit their heart rate, geo-location, acceleration, distance traveled, and gait throughout the session, with the goal of finding a correlation between the physical demands of training and competition and injury. The data gathered is imported into a database and run through different programs, including one written by Tegarden. A video analysis system then detects correlations between the information being tracked and injuries. After a game or practice, Tegarden and Williams provide data to coaches and players to help inform training changes on a personalized level. Williams said that their analysis can reveal subtle differences over the course of a season, such as the manner in which a player runs. “We also see changes over the week when the team plays multiple games,” he said. “Those changes may be indicative of fatigue.” Researchers expect to collect enough data to observe players from the start of their careers at Virginia Tech through graduation. This data will allow them to track how an athlete’s performance improves or regresses over time based upon injury history—or lack thereof—and training regimen. Tegarden said there is another use for their research.

“In accounting, we use control charts to find fraud,” he said. “We took the same idea, adapted it, and applied it to the playing field. With these insights, we can adapt it again and apply it to business. “We are taking information from one field, literally, and applying it to another field.” Read more about this research study at vtx.vt.edu/magazine.

Jeremy Norman is assistant director of communications and marketing for the Pamplin College of Business.

FIELD WORK: Riley McCarthy is a defender for the Virginia Tech women’s soccer team.

OLOGY

a subject of study ol·o·gy e äləjē

MINECRAFT

A NEW WAY TO EXPLORE ENGINEERING MAJORS

IN A WORLD OF LECTURES, BROCHURES, and informational slideshows, Ben Chambers is taking a hands-on approach to major exploration: Minecraft. Chambers, an associate professor of practice in Virginia Tech’s Department of Engineering Education, is one of a team of advisors and engineering faculty members looking for new ways to integrate advising and course goals into the first-year program, including exploring how to inform students of the wide variety of majors in the College of Engineering. During one committee meeting, Chambers proposed the use of Minecraft to build a unique college “museum,” the Minecraft Museum of Engineering. With more than 140 million active users, Minecraft is an infinite world video game launched more than a decade ago. Users can explore, build, and create on their own, or join up in collaborative play. “It’s being used in a lot of places for virtual learning, to teach programming and design, to do science and engage students,” Chambers said. “Thinking about understanding a major or discipline or an aspect of it well enough to actually build something, to demonstrate it to other people, I think is a pretty interesting way to have students explore majors and disciplines.” Over time, the museum will include a wing for each of the 13 majors available in the college, all designed and created by students. Museum visitors can expect a true virtual museum experience, including helpful tour guides. The inaugural department wing, mining and minerals engineering, showcases unique use of Minecraft materials to illustrate real-world principles. One hall depicts longwall mining (a single, continuous mining operation), while yet another highlights job-related equipment, like the rigid frame off-road truck. The walls of the museum went up this past spring, with support from a $10,000 grant from the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. “I find it exciting to be part of this project because I know it’s going to help incoming freshmen or transfer students—people who are struggling to decide on their major, like I did,” said Alyssa Carr, a sophomore engineering student who helped design the museum. “Plus, it’s fun getting to play a video game while helping someone else.” Learn more about the College of Engineering at vtx.vt.edu/magazine.

Angelo Biviano is the writing and communications program coordinator for the Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering. Niki Hazuda is the communications external relations manager for the Department of Engineering Education.