Dear Footwear Biomechanics Group Members,
Below please find a description of the candidates running for positions on the FBG Board. Ballots need to be submitted by email to Dr. Joseph Hamill (jhamill@kin.umass.edu) by April 1, 2009.
If you have any questions, please contact Joe directly.
Candidates for Footwear Biomechanics Group Executive
For Chair-Elect (vote for one)
Nachiappan Chockalingam PhD, CEng, CSci
Nachi completed his Instrumentation Engineering degree at Annamalai University, India and his graduate qualification in Biomedical Engineering Science at University of Dundee. His doctoral thesis was in the area of Gait and Posture analysis of scoliotic subjects. After his short training at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee he joined Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai (Madras) as a Research Fellow where he established a gait analysis facility. He continued at CLRI as a Scientist in Footwear Biomechanics before joining Staffordshire University. As Professor of Clinical Biomechanics at the Faculty of Health, Nachi directs the Movement Analysis Laboratory and leads the biomechanics team. He also holds a Honorary consultant position at the Hartshill Orthopaedic Unit at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. His research interests span through the general area of biomechanics and gait analysis with a special interest in foot and footwear biomechanics. Nachi is a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Scientist and a member of various professional organisations. He is one of the research editors for Scoliosis, a journal dedicated to the advancements in science and clinical practice related to scoliosis. He is also proposed to be one of the associate editors for Footwear Science, a new International Journal to be published by Taylor and Francis. His latest work focuses on lower limb Clinical Biomechanics. He was elected to and served in the Engineering Group Board at the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and has been elected as the Secretary of Footwear Biomechanics Group – a technical group of the ISB.
Stefan Grau, Tubingen University, Germany
Dr. Stefan Grau completed his doctoral degree at the University of Tübingen after completing an MS degree at the University of Oregon. His is currently the Head of the Biomechanics Department in the Sports Medicine clinic at the University Clinics Tübingen. Within the scope of patient care, Dr. Grau carries out biomechanical and training specific analyses on athletes (world class to regional athletes, various sports, though mainly runners), with the aim of recognizing the biomechanical causes of overuse injuries and to eliminate them through selected treatments (correct shoes, treatment with specific orthotics & physiotherapy, strength training, adjustment of training). A second focus is to run a Biomechanics Lab with 10 permanent senior researchers (sport scientists, engineer, informatics, orthopedic surgeon) and additional 5-10 MS and PhD students. Our focus is overuse injuries; development of functional running shoes; safety shoes; and children’s shoes as well as development of new measurement methods (e.g. dynamic 3-D foot scanner) and evaluation software (e.g. pressure distribution). His latest research focus is on evaluation and treatment of Parkinson’s disease and child obesity.
For Secretary-General (vote for one)
Bridget Munro, University of Wollongong, Australia
Bridget obtained her BSc (Hons) in Human Movement Science (1994), PhD (2005) in Biomechanics and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Wollongong. Her research over the past 10+ years has focused on the biomechanics of injury prevention with a specific interest in mechanisms of lower extremity dysfunction, in particular, foot structure and function and footwear design. The high quality of Bridget’s research has been recognized by her receipt of numerous research awards and fellowships, including the FE Johnson Fellowship for Outstanding Achievement by an Established Researcher in the Field of Science and Medicine in Sport (NSW, Australia), an Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Fellowship, and the Young Investigators Prize at the International Society of Biomechanics Technical Group on Footwear Biomechanics, 6th Symposium on Footwear Biomechanics, 2003. She has been a past-Director of both the International Footwear Biomechanics Group and the International Society of Biomechanics in Sport. Bridget has presented her research work at Footwear Biomechanics conferences since 1999.
Jay Worobets, University of Calgary, Canada
Jay recently completed a PhD in Biomechanics at the University of Calgary under the study of Darren Stefanyshyn. Although I am relatively new to the field, I have already worked on over a dozen academic and industrial footwear research projects. I am currently acting as the Secretary General for the 2009 FBG meeting in South Africa. For this event, I have set up a Footwear Biomechanics Group bank account, and helped establish the online FBG member registration/payment system. If it is the wish of the FBG, I would be willing to continue managing this account and help to improve the new online system.
For Executive Board Member (vote for two members)
Simon Barthold, The ASICS Corporation, Australia
Simon Bartold is a graduate of Adelaide University where he gained a Bachelor Degree in Science with majors in Physiology and Zoology. His further qualification in Podiatry was gained at the University of South Australia. He graduated with honors and was awarded the University prize. Simon holds postgraduate fellowships in Sports Podiatry with the Australian Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine and in Sport Sciences with Sports Medicine Australia. He has completed studies in advanced podiatric biomechanics and has published papers nationally and internationally. In 1998 was awarded the prestigious Best Clinical Paper award for original research at the Australian Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport. He repeated this feat in 2002 with a paper entitled “A Numerical Foot Model to Predict Sole Stability Parameters in Athletic Footwear”. In 2007 he was once again recognized for research excellence with a paper entitled “Effects of estrogen on the mechanical behavior of the human Achilles tendon in vivo.” It is the first time this award has been presented to the same researcher on multiple occasions. Simon has been an executive board member of the Australian Sports Medicine Federation and Past President of the Australian Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine, and remains the only podiatrist worldwide to ever hold a commission position with the International Sports Medicine Federation (F.I.M.S.). He is the consultant podiatrist to the Australian Institute of Sport Cricket Academy as well as a number of state and national sporting teams. He was Deputy Director of Podiatry Services at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and was selected for the medical team for the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. He is an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport and the Australasian Physiotherapy Journal and a journal reviewer for the Australasian Journal of Podiatric Medicine and the British Journal of Sports Medicine. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee for the Australasian Journal of Podiatric Medicine Simon is an adjunct lecturer to the School of Health Sciences at the University of South Australia and a Visiting fellow at the University of Staffordshire. He has published over 20 papers in peer-reviewed journals, has authored numerous book chapters and has lectured at international conferences in 23 countries. Research interests include the technical aspects of athletic footwear and pressure/force measurement in relation to intervention parameters and injury. Simon Simon’s “real job” is as International Research Consultant for the global body of the Asics Corporation.
Craig Payne, LaTrobe University, Australia
Craig is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Podiatry at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Main research interests are the subject specific and determinants of responses to foot orthoses and running shoes.
Seungbum Park, Footwear Industrial Promotion Center, Busan, South Korea
Dr. SeungBum Park is head of Footwear Biomechanics Team in the Footwear Industrial Promotion Center (FIPC: former KFI-Korea Footwear Institute, http://www.shoenet.org) in Busan, South Korea. He obtained his Ph.D in biomechanics from the Busan National University. His role at the institute is to support Korean footwear industry collaborated with universities, corporations and other research institutes in footwear biomechanics research division. His research is focusing specifically on 1) how footwear design provides benefits in biomechanical factors (i.e. muscle activation and joint loading) and 2) how sporting footwear influences safety and athletic performance related to lower limb biomechanics and neuromuscular response. He has served as a secretary general of the Korean Society of Sport Biomechanics (KSSB) since 2009, Asian Society of Sport Biomechanics (ASSB) since 2006 and an associate editor of Korean Journal of Sport Biomechanics. He says: “I have been actively participated in the Footwear Biomechanics Technical Group since 1997 (The first 97 in Tokyo, second 2001 in ETH, Third 2003 in Queenstown, fourth 2005 in Cleveland, fifth 2007 in Taiwan). When I attended this footwear biomechanics meeting in 1997, I was alone from Korea. Currently, almost 10-15 Korean biomechanists have participated in Footwear Biomechanics Symposium since 2005. Also, I have organized Korea Footwear Biomechanics Symposium in Korea since 2004 (1st 2004, 2nd 2005, 3rd 2006, 4th 2007, 5th 2008). We have high quality manufacturing facilities in footwear industry in Korea, especially in Busan. We have realized the importance of biomechanical research in footwear development. If I am elected as an executive board member, I would like to facilitate international collaborative research projects between my country and other countries.
Trampas Tenbroek, Biomechanics Research Laboratory, New Balance, USA
Trampas’ interest in biomechanics was piqued while working on the Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering at North Dakota State University. At NDSU, he was a member of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and an engineer at Ford New Holland. To further his training, he completed a Master of Science degree in kinesiology at Arizona State University with a concentration in biomechanics. His thesis topic involved shoe midsole thickness and ankle dynamics during lateral movements. This research was carried out with support from a major footwear company and the ASU Douglas Conley Memorial Scholarship. For this research, a series of custom basketball shoes were constructed that were identical except for midsole thickness. Inspired by his thesis research and his passion for footwear, Trampas continued his training at the University of Massachusetts where he worked/works with Dr. Joseph Hamill. While at UMass, Trampas was responsible for conducting extensive shoe testing and research on a variety of topics. Trampas is currently in his 4th year as a Ph.D. student working on his footwear related dissertation. Trampas began the role of Sports Research Manager for New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. in June of 2008. He is currently overseeing the recently opened New Balance Sports Research Lab in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Ming Zhang, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Dr Ming Zhang is Professor of Biomedical Engineering in Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the director of Research Center for Musculoskeletal Bioengineering. He received his BSc in automation control engineering, MSc in mechanical engineering, from Beijing Institute of Technology and PhD in medical engineering and physics from King’s College, University of London in 1995. Dr Zhang currently is Council Member of World Association for Chinese Biomedical Engineers (WACBE), Vice Chairman of China Society of Biomechanics, and Standing Council Member of China Rehabilitation Devices Association. He has more than 280 publications including journal papers, conference presentations and book chapters. Dr Zhang’s team has developed comprehensive computational foot and ankle models for foot biomechanics and footwear design. His current research interests include foot biomechanics and footwear design, computational biomechanics, body support biomechanics, prosthetic and orthotic bioengineering, bone biomechanics, and human motion and body vibration.
Thorsten Sterzing, Chemnitz University of Technology
Uwe Kersting, Aalborg University , Denmark
After his PhD at the German Sport University Cologne in 1996, Dr. Kersting spent 5y as a lecturer in Cologne and 6y at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. He moved to Denmark in 2007/08. His research focus is on lower extremity biomechanics. He has conducted studies on running mechanics and adaptation of tissues to running exercise. Uwe has also worked in clinical biomechanics and ergonomics on projects ranging from working environments to mechanical and neurological effects of diabetes. The main focus of his work now focuses and acute sport injuries and the scope of training or equipment interventions. He has authored and co-authored 24 full-length peer reviewed papers and 94 abstracts at international and national conferences. He is also a reviewer for several peer reviewed clinical and sports biomechanical journals.
Elysia Davis, University of Calgary, Canada
Elysia is in her first year of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary. The focus of her research is on the biomechanics of basketball footwear, with special interest in the balance between injury and performance of the basketball athlete. Although only a few months into graduate school, Elysia’s research career in Biomechanics began in the third year of her undergraduate degree. With the supervision of Dr. Benno Nigg, she has engaged in a variety of research projects including, but not limited to: the introduction of a new footwear design to reduce low back pain in golfers; work with an orthopaedic surgeon to analyze gait; and partnership with industry to develop reliable and valid tests for basketball shoes. At the Human Performance Laboratory of the University of Calgary, she has the privilege of working closely with and learning directly from some of the greatest practising biomechanists in the world. Elysia looks forward to continuing her research in innovative footwear design following her studies at the University of Calgary.
Ryan Chang, University of Massachusetts, USA
Ryan is a certified pedorthist who acquired his undergraduate Human Kinetics degree at the University of British Columbia. With an interest in footwear and biomechanics, he interned at Adidas-Salomon AG Biomechanics Test Center and underwent Masters training at McGill University, where he was mentored by Dr. David Pearsall's Ice Hockey Research Group. Upon completion in 2002, he returned to his hometown of Vancouver and began pedorthic training at Kintec Footlabs Inc. More recently, Ryan has been working toward his PhD in Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts Biomechanics Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Hamill. His research interests include healthy and pathological foot mechanics, as well as interventions through orthoses and footwear. Ryan is currently continuing pedorthic practice at Kintec Footlabs Inc. while he completes his dissertation, which investigates the etiological factors that prolong plantar fasciitis. In his research, he utilizes biomechanics and magnetic resonance techniques.
Timo Schmeltzpfenning, Universitätsklinikum Tübingen
I am a PhD student at the Department of Sports Medicine at the University Clinic in Tübingen, Germany. I completed my degree as an engineer in orthopaedics and rehabilitation in 2006 at the University of Applied Science in Giessen, Germany. In this context I had the pleasure of completing my diploma thesis at the University of Tübingen under the direction of Dr. Stefan Grau. The focus of my thesis was the differences between two- and three-dimensional motion capture on the lower extremities of healthy and pathological subjects. To get the necessary practical background, I completed a three year apprenticeship program on orthopaedic engineering in Cologne and a one year program on prosthetics and orthopaedics at the Federal Academy of Orthopaedic Technology in Dortmund (Germany) before I started my university studies. The current research interests of the Department of Sports Medicine in Tübingen are focused on the development of functional running shoes, safety shoes and children’s shoes, as well as the development of new measurement methods and evaluation software. Further research is being done on lower extremity mechanics, clinical and training issues and their combined patterns in normal and pathological locomotion. I am currently working on the development of a new measurement device for three-dimensional scanning the foot structure during locomotion, which will be the main part of my PhD thesis. Furthermore, I am involved in an investigation on the development of a new sole structure for functional running shoes as well as in teaching students in the area of applied clinical biomechanics in sports medicine. The Footwear Biomechanics Group, as a technical group of the International Society of Biomechanics, is an important forum for the exchange of ideas and information among scientist in the field of functional footwear. Especially young investigators and students can benefit most from this network by learning from others and debating problems with colleagues world wide. Therefore, the main aim of my work as a FBG Student Representative would be to increase students' interest in joining this technical group by increasing general awareness about this society in student circles and by giving students more opportunities to use this platform for discussions and debates as active members of the Footwear Biomechanics Group.
One way achieving more student interest would be to offer special workshops for young scientists during the Footwear Biomechanics Symposium, with topics like scientific methodology, sample size calculation or guidelines for paper publication. Furthermore, students should have the opportunity for personal discussions with leading scientists in their field of interest through special consultation times during the symposium. This would not only peak the interest of young researchers, but also allow experienced scientists to help shape the future of the FBG's young scientists.
Additionally, I think it is important to better integrate researchers from emerging and developing countries. Especially young investigators of those countries are not always able to visit congresses and symposiums to present their studies. For this reason there should be a special FBG student travel grant to support outstanding researchers from those countries. One possibility for establishing this would be to ask one of the FBG industrial partners if they would be willing to sponsor such a grant.
It would be a great honour for me to carry on this continuous process of involving more students through my commitment to the FBG as a Student Representative.
Footwear Science publishes reports of original research in the disciplines of biomechanics, ergonomics, physiology, clinical science, kinanthropometry, physics, engineering and mathematics. The use of footwear or footwear components, or application of the results to footwear is a major component of the research published in this international, peer-reviewed Journal. Methodological as well as experimental papers may be submitted, and the journal accepts original articles, reviews and perspective articles (usually by editorial invitation only), book reviews and letters to the Editor. The criteria for acceptance of manuscripts include: scientifi c excellence and rigor, novelty, signifi cance, clarity, conciseness and interest to our broad readership.
