UML Program is First for Undergrads in the U.S.
Image by K. Webster
02/13/2024
By Katharine Webster
The newest minor in the Francis College of Engineering 鈥� sports engineering 鈥� is hitting the sweet spot with students who love sports and also aspire to be engineers.
, a first-year student from Bolton, Massachusetts, and a sprinter for the Division 1 men鈥檚 track and field team, says he was excited to learn that he could combine his major in civil engineering with his love of sports.
鈥淧utting the two together would be great, especially working with professional athletes in any sport,鈥� says Merrow, one of the first students to take Introduction to Sports Engineering, the initial course for the minor.
Those students are not only pioneers on campus, but they鈥檙e also the first students in the first integrated undergraduate program in sports engineering in the United States, according to the International Sports Engineering Association.
Image by K. Webster
The new minor builds on each student鈥檚 engineering major, and it will be expanded in the future to accommodate students in disciplines such as computer science and exercise science.
The minor was developed by Engineering Dean James Sherwood, director of UML鈥檚 Baseball Research Center and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, and Patrick Drane 鈥�00, 鈥�03, the center鈥檚 assistant director and an executive committee member for the International Sports Engineering Association. The Baseball Research Center is the primary equipment testing lab for Major League Baseball.
鈥淏ecause we have the baseball lab, we routinely get inquiries from high school kids and their parents asking if they can study sports engineering here,鈥� Sherwood says. 鈥淭his should draw people from all over the U.S. It鈥檚 also a good draw for Division 1 athletes.鈥�
First-year Honors College student Joey Soly, a mechanical engineering major from Billerica, Massachusetts, who played varsity lacrosse at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School, says he chose 51视频 over another college after learning about the new minor.
鈥淢y dream was to become a professional athlete, but when I realized that wasn鈥檛 happening, my next dream was to go into engineering,鈥� Soly says. 鈥淚鈥檓 not entirely sure where I want to go with it yet, but it sounds like fun.鈥�
Of the half-dozen students in the first Introduction to Sports Engineering class, which is taught by Drane, all played sports in high school and three play intramural or club sports at 51视频, while Merrow is a D1 athlete.
That led to a lively discussion in class after some of the students attended a campus talk by NHL Players鈥� Association Executive Director Marty Walsh, who briefly talked about the debate over whether pro hockey players should wear neck guards.
鈥淚 grew up playing hockey, and I saw someone at my brother鈥檚 game whose life was saved by a neck guard,鈥� said Nick Castellino, a sophomore civil engineering major, during a class conversation about the roles that various materials, collective bargaining and safety testing would play in deciding whether neck guards would be allowed or required in the NHL.
After the introductory class, the minor offers six areas of focus that are based on a student鈥檚 major, their primary career interest or both. For example, someone majoring in chemical engineering or plastics engineering could choose to focus on sports materials, taking classes including Polymers in Sports. The 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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鈥淎 student who really wants to get a job in sports engineering needs to be familiar with the social side 鈥� the business of sports, sports psychology, physiology and health, and politics, race and gender in sports,鈥� Drane says.
As seniors, all students in the minor will either complete a sports-related capstone project within their major or take part in a hands-on industry, business or legal experience. The latter can include internships and . Interested students can also do research with faculty who study materials, biosensors, human performance, smart fabrics and more.
While the minor is new, many of the scores of UML students who have interned or worked as research assistants in the Baseball Research Center since it was founded in 1999 have gone on to work for sporting goods companies, including New Balance.
Becky O鈥橦ara聽鈥�06, who worked as a graduate research assistant in the baseball lab while completing her master鈥檚 degree in mechanical engineering, was hired as a bat engineer by Rawlings Sporting Goods upon graduation. She is now director of research and development at the company, which sends baseball and softball bats, balls, helmets and other protective equipment to the baseball lab for testing.
O鈥橦ara says that Rawlings and other companies in the sports equipment industry will be eager to hire engineering graduates who also have some understanding of business, data analytics and athletes.
鈥淲e鈥檙e developing products for athletes, so anything that helps our engineers better understand our customers and their needs is beneficial for us," she says.
