Ph.D. in Kinesiology - New Mexico Tech

• Assessment, prevention, and care of head injuries in college-aged athletes.
Of additional consideration is the fact that we currently employ a PhD-prepared
“biomechanist.” It is my understanding that UNM does not employ a biomechanist, and in
fact that we may have the only biomechanist in New Mexico. Therefore offering graduate
level classes and research opportunities in biomechanics could potentially benefit other
graduate programs around the state that would like to take advantage of the expertise that we
have to offer. It would be very consistent with our philosophy for this faculty member to
other graduate as well as undergraduate programs by providing instruction via webbased/distance
education or cross-registration opportunities.
It is also important to consider that the optimal PhD program experience is one that has a
high emphasis on the close mentorship of student by the faculty advisor. Therefore, PhD
programs in the traditional Arts & Science Model typically include only a very small
number of students per faculty member. As a result there are many Kinesiology graduate
programs across the country that turn away qualified applicants, as well as a great need to
offer PhD training in the discipline of Kinesiology, nationwide.
a. Within New Mexico. The state of New Mexico currently offers but one other PhD
opportunity for students interested in the discipline of Kinesiology. The Department of
Health, Exercise and Sport Sciences (HESS) at the University of New Mexico offers
PhD programs, specifically for students interested in Physical Education and Exercise
Science, two major sub-disciplines within the broad field of Kinesiology. Between 2002-
2011, the HESS department at UNM has conferred 86 PhDs. Approximately two-thirds
of these have been in Sport Administration, which is not a focus area of the present
proposal.
Exercise Science. The Exercise Science program at UNM has a long history of
providing excellent research and doctoral training experiences. The unique element of
the proposed program at NMSU is that the focus of the work will be translational
research (i.e., asking the questions as to how do we best translate theory into practice?).
In the diagram below we try to illustrate how we believe our proposed program will
differentiate itself from the program at UNM. Consequently, the department of
Health, Exercise and Sport Sciences at UNM has provided a letter of support
indicating that the program will be distinct (see Appendix A).
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