MINER Lab Continues Streak of Successes at TACSM

Published March 3, 2022
By Darlene Muguiro
UTEP College of Health Sciences

The Metabolic, Nutrition and Exercise Research (MiNER) Laboratory in the Department of Kinesiology is celebrating good news. Two new doctoral students, Jehu Apaflo and Joshua Labadah, and master’s student Ali Mossayebi attended the Texas Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (TACSM) conference in late February. Under the leadership of Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi, MiNER Laboratory director and associate professor of Kinesiology, the three students gave first-author presentations, with Apaflo being named a finalist in the poster presentation category. Mossayebi earned second place in the Student Research Development Award category, winning a student grant to fund his thesis project.

Apaflo said that listening to other presenters will help him continue to develop as a researcher and hone his grant submission skills.

“The lectures and presentations gave me more insight on my area of research in physiology, and I also gained new knowledge in other areas such as alcohol and exercise,” he said. “Additionally, listening to Ali and the other student grant presenters gave me an idea of the nature of the kind of proposals that are likely to be awarded and how to prepare competitive proposals for future TACSM grant applications.”

Mossayebi described his oral student research development grant presentation as “the most important talk I have ever experienced.” During the presentation, Mossayebi described his thesis project focusing on understanding the effect of electrical stimulation on energy expenditure and glucose metabolism to an audience that included scientists in the field as well as non-content experts. He said the experience will help him on multiple fronts, as a researcher, presenter and future academician.

“The conference helped me develop the expertise needed to discuss my research in a clear and meaningful way,” he said. “Learning how to answer specific questions and present my project to a range of individuals who may or may not be familiar with my field of research will help me in other endeavors, including future conference presentations, thesis and dissertation defenses, and classroom teaching.”

Labadah, who gave his first presentation as a doctoral student at the TACSM conference, said the overall experience was insightful. “The feedback I received from my poster presentation will be helpful in improving my dissertation research question,” he said. 

Despite the intense work of preparing for the conference, Apaflo, Labadah and Mossayebi said they are looking forward to attending future TACSM events and networking with other student and faculty researchers. Apaflo was particularly inspired by the many undergraduate students at the conference’s Student Bowl session and hopes to have a future role as a peer leader in the event.

“It was a moment of learning for me,” he said. “I hope to prepare UTEP students to compete in subsequent competitions.”

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Go Miners!
Photo courtesy of University Communications