ELON, N.C. – Elon women's basketball players Lauren Brown and Nicole Razor have been busy off the court conducting and presenting research during the month of April. Both recently presented their findings at the 2016 Colonial Academic Alliance Undergraduate Research Conference hosted by the College of William & Mary and Elon's 23rd annual Spring Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF).
 
Razor, as senior psychology major with minors in exercise science and neuroscience, started working on her research last summer with Elon's Faculty Athletic Representative Dr. Eric Hall. When formulating her research, she wanted to design a study around a topic that she could relate to, as well as work with a population she was familiar with. As a varsity athlete who had experience with injuries and is passionate about sport psychology, Razor chose to focus on the psychological aspect of sport injury among Division I collegiate athletes. Thus she decided to title her research, "Influences of Psychological Factors on Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness."
 
Her findings suggest that, "an athlete's fear avoidance and state trait anxiety prior to experiencing muscle soreness may influence reports of their pain intensity and disability. In turn, providing support for the use of psychological constructs in predicting outcomes from muscle soreness."
 
Brown, a junior exercise science major, focused her research on "the effect of dual tasking on the turning characteristics while walking among college athletes."
 
She found that, "athletes perform turning with a slower velocity, thus take a longer amount of time to complete their turn while completing a dual task." While Brown presented her preliminary data, she hops to use the results as a measure of comparison when athletes are diagnosed with a concussion.
 
Both players attended the CAA's Undergraduate Research Conference on Saturday, April 16, in Williamsburg, Va. Every school in the conference brought around 10 student-athletes to share their research with some taking part in poster sessions and others in oral presentations.
 
"What I loved most about the presenting at Academic Undergraduate Research Conference was just how interested students were about other students presentations," said Razor. "Knowing that people actually wanted to listen to what you had to say or were intrigued about your findings made me feel a lot more confident in myself as well as my work."
 
Elon's SURF program showcases student research and provides students the opportunity to present their research to a faculty and student audience. Student projects presented at SURF collaborates with mentors as part of faculty scholarship or course-based work through which students are introduced firsthand to the scholarly enterprise as participating contributors. This year's SURF took place on Tuesday, April 26.
 
"Having the opportunity to work with Dr. Hall and be a part of Elon's undergraduate research has not only helped me grow academically but personally as well," said Razor. "Since I've started, I've done things that I never thought I could do such as design my own study, write a manuscript, and lastly present in front of a classroom at SURF. For me achieving these small milestones has served as a constant reminder to never doubt myself. With the help and mentoring from Dr. Hall along the way, I'm confident that I will carry these same tools and lessons that I've learned from this experience with me to graduate school."
 
"As a collegiate athlete, your athletic responsibilities often take priority over opportunities that are afforded to the general population of students," said Brown. "The unique opportunity to participate in undergraduate research as an athlete has been invaluable to my experience here at Elon and something I am extremely grateful for. I have been able to gain a better understanding of the research process, receive hands-on experience applying concepts learned in class and most importantly collaborate and receive guidance from my mentors and peer research assistants."