On a rotational basis, we will provide a spotlight about one of our current Exercise Science students.
Name: Evan Semonis. What year are you? Senior.
What is your favorite KNR classes that you have taken? KNR 280, 282, and 313.
What drew you to Illinois State and the Exercise Science major? Evan has family working at the University. As such, he always spent a lot of time around the University growing up. Given this, Evan had an opportunity to attend any public university in the State of Illinois, and ISU felt like the best fit.
What are your plans for after ISU? I plan to stay for a double Master’s in biomechanics & exercise physiology. I need to do more research on the plausibility of completing two master’s degrees at once, but that’s the hope. After that, a PhD in a speciality exercise field. I am still actively working to discover my specific niche in the field.
What has been your most rewarding experience at Illinois State University? Working underneath Dr. McDonald and being a part of her research. That is the reason that I’m not only going into a graduate degree but also staying here to do it. It is all because of her research and the time that we’ve spent together to try and get things accomplished. All of the athlete testing and projects that we’ve done has been incredibly rewarding.
Can you tell us more about the research you’re involved with? We have two major projects. First, we have a pregnancy project, which involves assessing the health of pregnant and postpartum women, plus their children.
We are providing exercise programs for these women and trying to draw conclusions from resistance training outcomes. So, with a two-days per week resistance training program, what are the outcomes on the postpartum mother and child. That was a rewarding experience early on in my career here. There has been a lot of time spent training these clients and that is an experience that a lot of students don’t get until senior classes like KNR 313. It’s been phenomenal to have the opportunity to work with a plethora of clients from a special population.
Recently, we’ve been working on the “Athletic’s Project”, working with athletes and creating player profiles. This involves body composition analysis, and the goal moving forward with the project is to include more biomechanics high speed motion capture and force-driven data as well as physiological exercise tests linked to performance outcomes, such as the Wingate test or other forms of maximal exercise testing. These are the kinds of markers we use to provide athletes with a profile to say, “You’ve improved in these categories from pre-season to postseason, and here’s what we will focus on next”. This project is open to any athlete, not just a specific sport or group.
If you are an athlete and are interested, please contact Dr. Samantha McDonald.
What is your best piece of advice for incoming freshman in Exercise Science, or for anyone considering the major? Talk to your professors. They are human beings and are here to help us and make our lives easier. They want to see us succeed and for you to succeed, sometimes it’s as simple as building a relationship and saying “Hey, how are you doing today professor?” Or, it could get as complicated as spending over 300 hours a semester in research.
Interview conducted by Ex Sci Student Ella Kramer.