For the past four years, the Health, Exercise and Sport Sciences Department at University of the Pacific has had the highest number of undergraduate student research projects in the world accepted at the prestigious American College of Sports Medicine national conference.

The organization is a global leader with most research presented by doctoral students and professors. It also publishes five highly ranked, peer-reviewed journals.

Presenting at a major national conference and getting published as an undergraduate gives Pacific students an advantage. It also helps them gain entry into highly-rated graduate programs.

“What I hope it shows is that Pacific is the place where students get to do real research. It is a great example of personalized learning where professors put students first,” said Courtney Jensen, assistant professor of health and exercise. “Right now, we have three people at Duke, one in the physician assistant program and two in physical therapy—top programs.” 

The extensive research opportunity is one of the reasons Nathaniel Holmgren ’20, ’22 stayed at Pacific to earn his master’s degree.

He had nine publications as an undergraduate.

“I think it's paramount to any students if they have the opportunity to explore something outside of what they thought was their path. That’s the goal of college in my opinion, to present people with different opportunities while also educating them,” said Holmgren.

“Being published is what is getting our students a bigger step into the door in the health field,” adds Cameron Williams, ’20, ’22. “When they look at our resumes, they're saying, ‘Oh, wow. They've done some real-world work already.’”  

Williams made a notable finding as an undergraduate while evaluating the women’s water polo team using a biomechanics machine called Proteus. 

Pacific was the first university in the world to obtain the machine, which is now used by most major league baseball teams, many hospitals and universities. 

“(My research) showed us that it doesn't matter how hard you can throw the ball. It doesn't matter how explosive you are with your release. What matters was how consistent you were with your throwing patterns,” said Williams, who also played on the women’s water polo team.

“My assistant coach was getting his master's in sport management and was trying to prove that to score more goals, your shot needs to be harder. It actually disproved that theory.”

Expanding undergraduate research was a focus for Jensen when he began teaching at Pacific in 2016.

The first year he took students to the national conference in Denver in 2017 they had 8 research projects accepted. The number grew exponentially the following year when they took 32 research projects.

He now aims for 20 projects annually. A few are conducted by master’s students, but the majority are undergraduate students.

“It’s extremely advantageous for students to apply to graduate school and probably be the only applicant with a publication,” Jensen said.

The projects cover a wide range of topics based on students’ interests. Some students have traveled as far as Uganda to conduct research on epidemiology.

A student with a passion for baseball, J.P. Wong, did research on Tommy John surgery, which is a procedure used to repair a ligament inside the elbow. He compiled an extensive database on statistics to examine the impact it had on a pitcher’s career. 

Wong’s work was selected to be part of a theme presentation at the American College of Sports Medicine conference with others who had similar areas of research. He was the only student in the group.

“As an undergraduate student it was him, someone from the Major League Baseball commissioner's office, and then every other project was led by and presented by medical doctors who did (Tommy John) surgery on major league baseball players,” said Jensen. “It’s good company to be in.”

While the bulk of their projects are presented at the American College of Sports Medicine conference, Jensen is expanding to nephrology (kidney specialty) and biology conferences to provide students more opportunities in the research world.