Clemson Graduate School
Began the Master's of Communication program at Clemson University in August 2023 (Expected graduation May 2025).
Brooks Sports Science Graduate Assistant
As a graduate assistant I have two primary roles. The first role is as a student teacher, teaching an undergraduate public speaking lab. The second position is as a student researcher for the Brooks Sports Science Institute. So far, I have worked on projects researching season ticket holder PR, name, image and likeness (NIL) in sports, concussion disclosure, autoimmune disease disclosure and communication in sports, and more!
Sports Recovery and Data Specialist
I work in the Clemson Applied Science Lab and 100 Yards of Wellness, marketing and providing sports recovery treatment modalities to Clemson Football Players. Recovery modalities I run include: normatec, float tanks, dry float tanks, infrared therapy, theralight therapy, cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, massage gun therapy, partner assisted stretching therapy, etc. I worked Clemson home football games, tracking performance and delivering recovery treatments. Additionally, I have worked football recruiting events, marketing our department and services to prospective student-athletes, their parents, donors, and new coaching staff.
One the data side of things, I track and manage sports performance data for injury mitigation. Data collection techniques include Catapult and force production testing. Through my graduate thesis, I conducted interviews with the football players, conducted a needs analysis, pitched my plan to the higher ups, managed a data collection project and communication plan throughout the 2024 football season, and evaluated the plans for effectiveness in January 2025. This project looked to track soreness disclosure and athlete-led recovery usage, as a way to speed up recovery time from general workouts and, possibly, reduce the number of injuries. More about the project can be viewed down below in its own section.
Clemson Blood Bowl Work
As part of a health communication graduate course, I worked as a researcher developing promotional materials for their annual blood drive (Clemson Blood Bowl). I created flyers, focusing on blood donation eligibility and blood donation side effects/resources, that could be posted around campus or on social media. pages. The flyers can be viewed at the hyperlinks below:
Soreness Tracking and Sports Recovery
As part of my graduate thesis dissertation, I worked with Clemson football to try an increase soreness self-reporting amongst the players and increase recovery usage; the idea being that if we could get them to understand the connection between soreness reporting and recovery usage, we would be able to get them to take the steps to prevent and minimize soreness in the first place. As part of this project, I completed interviews with the players to gauge base level of information. Then, I created communication materials that were pushed out on a weekly basis throughout the 2024 football season and created flyers for how to reduce soreness that would be hung in the recovery facility and distributed to players on as needed basis. You can view the flyers with the hyperlinks below: