Research program pairs students with faculty members

Tevin Taylor, an exercise science major from Rocky Mount, NC, has given it his all as a student at Winston-Salem State University. His hard work has paid off. He is among the first exercise physiology students to earn the honors designation, each working with a faculty member to complete a rigorous thesis project over the course of the last academic year.

The project paired students with faculty mentors to identify a problem, propose and complete an investigation and report their findings. That is exactly what Taylor did recently during Scholarship Day at WSSU.

He investigated the affect that the consumption of Gatorade Chews had on time to exhaustion. His mentor was Michael McKenzie, WSSU director of undergraduate research and chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science.

“My results showed that the chews actually do improve endurance performance, because there was a significant difference between the average run times between the two runs I conducted with and without the Gatorade Chews,” said Taylor, who graduated with a 3.8 grade point average.

In the midst of all the work, Taylor made time to lend his support to the Hospice Hope Run with a contingent of WSSU students running in the event to raise funds for the programs of Hospice & Palliative CareCenter.

Taylor will attend Duke University this fall to pursue a doctorate degree in Physical Therapy.

Other research topics included:

• Norms for collegiate strength and conditioning training programs
  Donald Brown mentored by Kevin Ritsche;
• The effects of music on exercise heart rate recovery
  Dara Green mentored by Jesse Pittsley;
• Inflammation following exercise and caloric restriction
  Kenya Raynor mentored by Chad Markert; and
• Health behaviors of WSSU students based upon their major
  Malik Miller mentored by Amanda Price