February 13, 2024
by katherine webster
Francis Tech University's newest minor, Sports Engineering, is perfect for students who love sports and want to become engineers.
Gabriel Merrow, a freshman from Bolton, Mass., and a sprinter on the Division 1 men's track and field team, said he was excited to learn he could combine his major in civil engineering with his love of sports.
“It would be great to be able to combine the two, especially working with professional athletes from all sports,” said Mellow, who was one of the first students to take Introduction to Sports Engineering, the first course in the minor. Masu.
According to the International Sports Engineering Association, these students are not only pioneers on campus, but also the first students in the first sports engineering integrated undergraduate program in the United States.
Image by K. Webster
The first six students to take Introduction to Sports Engineering include D1 sprinter Gabriel Merrow (front row left); Instructor Patrick Drain 2000, 2003, Center Back, Deputy Director of the Center for Baseball Research.
The new minor will be based on each student's engineering major and will be expanded in the future to accommodate students in fields such as computer science and exercise science.
The minor was presented by James Sherwood, Dean of the College of Engineering, Director of the UML Baseball Research Center and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, and Patrick Drane, Deputy Director of the Center and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology (2000, 2003) Developed by. International Sports Engineering Association. The Baseball Research Center is Major League Baseball's primary equipment testing lab.
“Because we have a baseball lab, we regularly get inquiries from high school students and their parents about studying sports engineering here,” Sherwood said. “This should draw people from all over the United States. It's also a good draw for Division I athletes.”
Joey Thorley, a first-year Honors College mechanical engineering major from Billerica, Massachusetts, was a varsity lacrosse player at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School and chose Massachusetts over another college after learning about his new minor. -He chose Lowell School.
“My dream was to become a professional athlete, but when I realized that wasn't going to happen, my next dream was to go into engineering,” Solly says. “I don't really know where I want to go yet, but it looks like it's going to be fun.”
Of the six students in Drain's first introductory sports engineering class, all played sports in high school, three participated in intramural and club sports at Lowell, and Merrow is a D1 athlete.
After some students attended a campus talk by NHL Players Association Executive Director Marty Walsh, who spoke briefly about the debate over whether professional hockey players should wear neck guards, a lively discussion ensued in class. happened.
“I grew up playing hockey, and I saw people's lives saved by neck guards at my brother's games,” said Nick Castelino, a second-year civil engineering major who uses various materials, collective bargaining, and safety tools. He said this during a class conversation about roles. Testing will be important in determining whether neck guards will be allowed or required in the NHL.
After an introductory class, the minor offers six areas of focus based on the student's major, primary career interest, or both. For example, those majoring in chemical engineering or plastics engineering may choose to focus on sports materials and take classes such as Polymers in Sports. Other areas of focus are biomechanics, sports electronics, sports product design, sports engineering mechanics, and sports infrastructure such as physical facilities.
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Becky O'Hara '06 earned her master's degree in mechanical engineering while working at the Baseball Research Center and is currently the director of research and development for Rawlings Sporting Goods.
Students in the minor take electives from a wide range of sports-related classes outside of engineering, including Introduction to Exercise Science, Philosophy of Sports, Biology for Engineers, Business Law for Engineers, and the Culture of American Sports.
“Students who really want to pursue a career in sports engineering need to be familiar with the business of sports, sports psychology, physiology and health, and the social aspects of sports, such as politics, race, and gender,” Drain says. he says.
As seniors, all students in the minor complete a sports-related capstone project within their major or participate in hands-on experience in industry, business, or law. The latter may include internships and co-ops. Interested students can also conduct research with faculty who study materials, biosensors, human performance, smart fabrics, and more.
Although the minor is new, many UML students who have worked as interns or research assistants at the Baseball Research Center since its founding in 1999 have gone on to work for sporting goods companies, including New Balance.
Becky O'Hara '06 worked as a graduate research assistant in the baseball laboratory while earning her master's degree in mechanical engineering, and upon graduation was hired by Rawlings Sporting Goods as a bat engineer. She currently serves as the company's research and development director, and sends baseball and softball bats, balls, helmets and other protective equipment to the Baseball Research Institute for testing.
O'Hara said Rawlings and other companies in the sporting goods industry will be more willing to hire engineering graduates who also have some understanding of business, data analysis and athletes.
“We develop products for athletes, so anything that helps our engineers better understand our customers and their needs is beneficial to us,” she says.
