Exercise Physiology Lab Opens on Campus for Kinesiology Students
New space in Trent Athletics Centre offers students more hands-on learning opportunities
VO2 max tests to check the strength of a person’s respiratory system, and metabolic rate testing to determine how a persons does when they are at rest -- these are just a few of the ways students in the Kinesiology program at Trent will put their education to work in the new state-of-the-art exercise physiology lab at Trent University.
Trent’s Kinesiology department, in partnership with the Trent Athletics Centre, has created the new lab in the Athletics Centre which will be used for both teaching and research purposes for students in the program.
“The lab offers a learning environment that is specialized and tailored to what the students in the Kinesiology program need to learn,” says Dr. Sarah West, a faculty member in the program.
“Practical, experiential based learning is a very important and necessary component in the study of kinesiology. This lab will allow us to grow our students into well-educated kinesiologists, and will provide them with the experience they need.”
The lab has been outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment, including a new metabolic cart, treadmill, computers and other exercise equipment. The lab also features workstations where students and faculty can work collaboratively on exercise research initiatives. The space will also be central to the research of Professor West and her students.
“Students will have the hands-on opportunity to learn how to conduct exercise testing in a variety of populations, an important component of studying kinesiology,” explains Professor West. “It will be a hub where Kinesiology students can learn and research students can conduct high quality exercise based research. It is a very exciting time here at Trent with the development of our kinesiology program. My hope is that this will be a productive and collaborative research lab that will help to foster the growth of Kinesiology related research at Trent University.”