Research in Motion

At George Mason University, learning and research aren’t limited to the classroom or the lab. Researchers, coaches, clinicians, and students are working across disciplines as a part of the university’s Living Lab, a space where real-world questions become opportunities for discovery, innovation, and care. 

From the training facilities used by NCAA Division I student-athletes to the rehearsal studios where School of Dance students spend hours perfecting their craft, George Mason researchers are studying how bodies perform, recover, and thrive under intense physical demands. This research has an immediate impact: helping athletes avoid injury, improving recovery and sleep habits among dancers, and shaping evidence-based practices that can influence health and performance far beyond campus. 

These projects reflect George Mason’s distinctive approach to research—bringing together academic expertise and hands-on practice in ways that directly benefit the health and well-being of the university community. Here, students are not only learning from research—they are living it. 

Keeping Athletes in the Game 

One way that George Mason’s Intercollegiate Athletics and the College of Education and Human Development keep our athletes in top form is through evidence-based practices and science in the Patriot Performance Lab. 

“We’re not just a research lab,” says Margaret Jones, director of the Patriot Performance Lab. “Providing health services to athletes is also critical. It’s what makes the partnership work.” 

For example, postdoctoral research fellow Erica King, BS Bioengineering ’21, PhD ’25, a former student-athlete in swimming and diving, led a recent nine-month study that assessed the load demands on volleyball players’ knees using wearable sensors for tracking load during practice, counter-movement jump testing, wearable and clinical ultrasound devices, MRIs, and surveys.  

“At the end of the season, we were able to show the coaching staff the average number of jumps athletes complete in a 15- to 16-week period and the direct effects of that from a joint adaptation standpoint,” Jones says. “Now they can tailor practice sessions to better support the players and help alleviate strain that could lead to injury.”    

Athletes, coaches, and athletic trainers often come to the lab with ideas and questions for study. Last spring, George Mason’s swim team approached the lab to conduct a blood lactate study and applied for and received an Office of Student Creative Activities and Research grant to fund the study.  

Researchers collected data from blood draws, heart-rate monitors, DEXA scans, and jump testing. An early review suggests a swimmer’s stroke specialization and maximal power generation capabilities significantly impact accumulation in blood lactate levels during all-out swim bouts.  

“We couldn’t do what we do without the support and trust of the coaching staff,” says PhD student Noelle Saine, BS Kinesiology ’22, MS ’23. Saine, who was a student-athlete in track and field, understands the importance of strong communication between sport scientists and athletes.  

“The sports management field as a whole is starting to ask how we can make good management decisions around athlete health and performance data,” says Chris Green, director of the Center for Sport Management. “The Patriot Performance Lab is already doing this work. It’s one of the things that makes us unique, and it’s what makes our work impactful.” 

Helping Dancers Stay Ready for the Stage 

When Jena Hansen-Honeycutt, the athletic trainer for George Mason’s School of Dance, started seeing an influx in injuries among dance students, she approached Professor of Kinesiology Jatin Ambegaonkar and then-student Kelley Wiese, PhD Kinesiology ’25, hoping to find a solution.  

Dancers are “aesthetic athletes,” meaning they have high workloads and high injury rates like traditional athletes. “They dance for at least three hours a day in classroom practice alone,” says Hansen-Honeycutt. “And that doesn’t account for their extracurricular work: rehearsals, choreography, or additional practice.”  

“We can recognize there’s a correlation between fatigue and injury, but you need data in order to make a stronger case for implementing cultural and systemic changes,” says Wiese.  

Wiese, a trained dancer and now an assistant professor of athletic training at Shenandoah University, worked with Ambegaonkar on various studies at the intersection of kinesiology and dance during her doctoral program at George Mason.  

Dancers were given biosensors to wear on their wrists 24 hours a day for seven days. They repeated the study four times throughout the semester.  

“We wanted to understand the cycles of the body breaking down and recovering as workload increased and decreased throughout their semester,” says Ambegaonkar.  

Participating students were also given surveys to provide subjective perceptions of their workload, sleep habits, and energy levels.  

Reviewing the data, Wiese found that at peak times throughout the semester, students were spending more than seven hours a day completing moderate to vigorous physical activity between class, rehearsals, practice, and choreographing. As a result, energy levels decreased and fatigue increased, indicating a need for integrated recovery times and programs.  

Another key finding from this study was the dissonance between students’ perceived sleep and the biosensor data. While students self-reported great and sufficient sleep, the biosensors reported insufficient sleep.  

“Over time, insufficient sleep can lead to difficulty recovering and therefore higher rates of injury,” says Wiese, “particularly when [students are] already struggling to recover.” 

As a result, the research team worked together to develop what Ambegaonkar calls “micro-interventions” through improved sleep health education programs. Hansen-Honeycutt has created sleep health resources for students to educate them on the impacts of good sleep on their academic and physical performance and is working with the faculty to incorporate this messaging into their classrooms.  

“This study proved to me that us dance majors are extremely active, more than I often realize!” says Sanaa Fairley, BFA Dance ’26. “I learned that I could develop a much more consistent sleep schedule to set up my space, and therefore my mind, in a healthy way each day to prepare for rest.” Fairley says she has implemented other recovery techniques, such as cold showers, into her routine as well because of the study.  

T’aja Williams, BFA Dance ’26, also reports she improved her sleep hygiene through a consistent bedtime. The study also made her more aware of how academic, socio-emotional, and physical activities impact her schedule and technology use. 

Building good habits now helps George Mason dance students have long and fulfilling careers in dance. And Ambegaonkar and Wiese think this study might help pave the way for further research into the physical demands and impacts of dance.   

“George Mason is a pioneer in the field of dance medicine,” says Ambegaonkar. “We’re broadening the scope of what kinesiology is and what it can do in the public health domain.”