Penn State Berks celebrates National Biomechanics Day

Workshops focused on human movement educate local high school students
Student squats with lifting bar
Credit: Mackenzie Cullen

WYOMISSING, Pa. — Penn State Berks hosted its seventh annual National Biomechanics Day on April 10.

The workshops, conducted by Penn State Berks faculty and students, as well as clinicians from local hospitals, are for high school students with an interest in science and engineering and their applications to human movement. The event also included interactive laboratory activities, and school and career information.

Students participated in workshops that included such topics as the biomechanics of balance; hands, jumping, and lifting; the college’s Biomechanics and Gait Evaluation Lab and the new Exercise Physiology Lab. Participants also visited the Cadaver Lab, the only teaching cadaver laboratory in Berks County, and the Fluid Discovery Lab, the only open-access fluid dynamics lab in the Penn State system.

National Biomechanics Day is a worldwide celebration of biomechanics in its many forms for high school students and teachers, initiated by the American Society of Biomechanics.

This event is hosted by the Penn State Berks Human Movement Research Center, a multi-disciplinary collaborative research group consisting of Penn State Berks faculty with research, education and outreach interests related to enhancing human movement and improving life. Bringing together expertise from kinesiology, engineering, mathematics, psychology and other disciplines allows the research team to address important questions about human movement from a broad perspective.

For additional information about National Biomechanics Day, contact Allison Altman Singles, associate professor of kinesiology and mechanical engineering, at [email protected].