PhD Students
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Bradley Alban, MS, USATF-1, ACSM HFS
Bradley is a 3rd year PhD student. Bradley currently works with the Milligan Cross Country & Track teams as an assistant coach and sport scientist. Prior to ETSU, Bradley spent three years as the head cross-country and track coach for Miramonte High School in Orinda, CA. He received his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from St. Mary’s College of California, where he competed in cross-country and track and field. He earned his master’s degree in kinesiology from Cal State East Bay. Bradley’s research interests include optimal training methods, sport performance, and tapering models. |
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Jake Bernards, MS, CSCS
Jake is a second year PhD student in the Sports Physiology and Performance program at East Tennessee State University. Originally from San Diego, California Jake earned his BS in Kinesiology and MS in Exercise Physiology while attending San Diego State University. As a former Division I football player, Jake strives to mesh his love for sports and knowledge of the human body in an attempt to maximize human performance. Outside of school, Jake enjoys anything outdoors including surfing, camping, and traveling. Currently, Jake is the head sport scientist and strength coach for Milligan College Baseball while also teaching undergraduate classes at ETSU. His research interest includes the underlying mechanisms of fatigue, training theory, extreme sports, and athlete monitoring – specifically monitoring fatigue in an attempt to prevent overtraining in athletes. |
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Robert Blaisdell, MS, CSCS, USAW-SPC, USAC-II*D
Bob is a second year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance program at ETSU. Originally from Philadelphia, Bob earned his BS in Exercise Science from Temple University and his MS in Exercise Science from East Stroudsburg University. Bob is a former elite level track cyclist and has also worked with USA Cycling as a coach in various roles since 2003- having served as an Assistant Coach for the US National Track Cycling Team and as a Head Coach for a number of Regional Development/ Talent ID camps over the years. He continues to coach cyclists utilizing power meters for Peaks Coaching Group. At ETSU, Bob will lead as a Sport Scientist/ Strength Coach for Milligan College Track & Field/ Cross Country. His research interests include optimal performance models, long-term athlete monitoring, power-based training for cyclists, as well as adaptations to strength and power training. He currently resides in Johnson City with his wife, Andrea and their two dogs, Gilbert and Gus. |
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Garrett Bingham, MA
Garrett is entering his second year as a PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance program at ETSU. |
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Kevin Carroll, MA, CSCS
Kevin is entering his second year as a PhD student at ETSU. He received his M.A. in Sport Physiology & Performance from ETSU and his B.S. in Exercise Science from Appalachian State University. Before his time at ETSU, Kevin was a student intern for strength & conditioning at Appalachian State and the University of Texas- Austin. He has been a strength & conditioning coach and sport scientist for the ETSU Softball team for the previous two years and will continue his role while pursuing his doctorate. Kevin has a passion for teaching (both in the weight room and the classroom) and is also interested in research related to sport and athletic populations. His research interests include: monitoring and enhancement of sport performance, muscle physiology, physiological adaptations to training, periodization and coaching theory, and using velocity as a monitoring and coaching tool. |
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Aaron Cunanan, MS, CSCS, USAW
Aaron is in the Sport Physiology and Performance doctoral program at ETSU. He received his master's degree in kinesiology from LSU Shreveport. Aaron served as an assistant coach under Dr. Kyle Pierce at the USA Weightlifting Center for High Performance and Development in Shreveport, La., from 2011 through 2016. In addition to coaching, Aaron worked for three years as an exercise physiologist at an outpatient physical therapy clinic. He has also been an adjunct instructor at his alma mater since 2012. Aaron currently serves as an assistant coach at the designated Olympic Training Site at ETSU for weightlifting, as well as a member of the sport science staff. His research interests include adaptations to resistance training, coach education, and long-term athlete development. Aaron resides in Johnson City, Tenn., with his wife and their three children. |
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Asher Flynn, MS, CSCS
Asher is a first year student in ETSU’s Sport Physiology and Performance PhD program. He completed his BS of exercise science from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri. After a brief break from school, he attended the University of Central Arkansas where he received his MS of Kinesiology. During his time in Conway, he worked as the strength and conditioning coach for the women’s basketball and soccer teams. Asher’s career goals are to become a professor as well as a strength and conditioning coach. His research interests include recovery, periodization, and plyometrics. |
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Nicholas Fiolo, MS, CSCS, FMSC
Nicholas Fiolo is a second year PhD student in the sport physiology concentration. He received a MS in sports nutrition and exercise science from Marywood University in 2014 and a BS in kinesiology from the Pennsylvania State University in 2010. Nicholas also holds the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists (CSCS) credential from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. His interests lie in sports nutrition and endurance sports. He plans to conduct his dissertation research on the effects of a periodized strength training program on physiological and performance changes in a marathon runner. |
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Jacob Goodin, MA, CSCS, ISAK II
Jacob is a first year PhD student serving as Liaison, Web Content, and Social Media manager for the Center of Excellence for Sport Science and Coach Education. He received his MA from East Tennessee State University where he investigated the kinetic and kinematic characteristics of high bar and low bar back squats and served as a sport scientist and strength and conditioning coach for the Women's Tennis team. His current research interests include correlations between muscle physiology and strength characteristics in collegiate athletes, strength training periodization strategies for endurance athletes, and the application of athlete monitoring programs in collegiate athletics. Though he now trains for strength sports, Jacob competed in track & field and cross country for Westmont College, earning NAIA All-American honors and specializing in the 1500m. He and his wife Lisa, also a former Westmont College runner, have two children with a third on the way. They live in Johnson City, TN and attend Redeemer Community Church. |
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Cameron Griggs, BS, CSCS
Cameron is a first year PhD student focusing on research pertaining to strength and power development in athletes. While earning his Bachelor’s degree from Coastal Carolina University he served as an Intern Strength & Conditioning Coach; assisting Football, Men’s Soccer, and Women’s XC. Cameron will be serving the ETSU Olympic Training Site (OTS) weightlifters as a member of the sport science staff for the upcoming year. After graduating next Spring he will continue his education as a PhD candidate. |
Donghoo Kim |
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Thaddeus Light, M.S., CSCS*D, USAW-1
Thaddeus Light is a first year PhD student in the Sports Physiology and Performance program. He completed his bachelor's degree at West Virginia University, then worked as a high school head coach for two years. Thaddeus received his Masters of Science from Louisiana Tech University, where he worked with the baseball team as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. During this time, he also worked as an intern for the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) in Colorado Springs, CO. His research interests include musculoskeletal adaptations to training, power production, training optimization, and recovery. Thaddeus currently assists with weightlifting at the Olympic Training Site. |
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Hairui Liu, Ed. D
Hairui is a first year PhD student in ETSU’s Sport Physiology and Performance program. Before he came to ETSU, He earned his degree from Shanghai University of Sport. He has been a judo athlete since middle school all the way through college where he competed in provincial and national competitions. His previous training and academic background has helped his involvement in professional sport training monitoring projects such as soccer, fencing (world champion), boxing (Olympic champion) and swimming. He is also involved in several research projects, such as professional female soccer jump-landing tasks-implications to ACL injury, scoliosis functioning movement intervention (patients), and basketball shoe testing (Nike and Lining). His research interests are focused on sport performance, monitoring, and training protocol design. |
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Junshi Liu, MA, CSCS
Junshi is a second year PhD student. He once studied at Hong Kong and China. His studies focused on sport science specially for soccer players injury prevention. Now he serves the ETSU men's soccer team. His research interest is sport science application to soccer. |
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Matt Sams, MA
Matt is from Hampton, TN and currently works with ETSU Men's Soccer. |
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Robert W. Sausaman, MS, MBA, CSCS
Robert is a first year PhD student in the Sport Physiology & Sports Performance program at ETSU. He is currently working as a sport scientist with the Buc’s women’s soccer team. Robert is a graduate of the University of Memphis, where he earned a BA in Finance, as well as master’s degrees in Business Administration and Health and Sports Sciences. A native of Gainesville, FL, Robert played college soccer at the University of Memphis from 2005-2009. Following his soccer career, Robert served two internships with the Memphis Football Strength & Conditioning staff. In 2010, Robert was hired as an assistant coach/performance coach for the University of Memphis men’s soccer team, a position he held for 5 seasons. In addition to his coaching duties at the collegiate level, Robert coached 4 seasons with under 9 youth soccer teams. Prior to enrolling in the PhD. Program at ETSU, he spent the season working under Coach Tom Myslinski at the Jacksonville Jaguars as a Strength & Conditioning associate. Robert’s interests include high performance management in elite sports, coaching theory, athlete monitoring, and long-term athlete development. |
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Joanne Spalding, MBA, BA
Joanne is a first year PhD student at ETSU. A native of Erskine, Scotland, Spalding graduated with honors from Northeastern State University (Okla.) in 2008 with a degree in health and human performance, and a minor in psychology. Spalding earned her master of business degree from Averett in 2010. Joanne joined the ETSU women’s soccer coaching staff in 2014 after serving as an assistant coach at Averett University in Danville, Va., from 2008-13. |
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John P. Wagle, MS, CSCS, SCCC
John is entering his first year as a PhD student at ETSU with a concentration in Sport Physiology. He received his M.S. in Exercise Science from Western Illinois University and completed his undergraduate work at Augustana College (IL), majoring in Physics and Business Management. He also holds two graduate degrees in business administration. Prior to the opportunity to join ETSU, John served as the Director of Sports Performance at DePaul University, working specifically with men’s basketball, women’s softball, and men’s tennis. In a previous role with DePaul, as the Assistant Director of Sports Performance, he added track and field and women’s soccer to his teams of service. Preceding these positions, John completed internships at Western Illinois University and DePaul University. Before entering the field, John was an All-American baseball player at Augustana College, and continued his playing career for two seasons of minor league baseball. John’s interests include training theory for speed development, applied biomechanics, and athlete monitoring strategies and applications. He currently resides in Johnson City, TN and is originally from Rock Island, IL. |
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Joseph Walters
Joseph is a first Phd student. He received his undergraduate and master’s degree from the University of Tampa. Prior to his arrival at ETSU, Joseph was working as a sports performance director in Tampa, FL, aiding in the development of youth football, volleyball, and baseball. His research interest includes adaptations in skeletal muscle, development of strength and power as it relates to sport, and nutritional aspects concerning acute and chronic effects to performance. Joseph’s long-term goal is to be an influential authority in research and academia relating to sport performance. |
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Tara Whiton, MS, ACSM EPC, USATF Level I (pending Nov. 2016)
Tara is a first year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance program at ETSU. She received her BS in Exercise Physiology & Biology from the University of Southern Maine in 2011 and her MS in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition from Montana State University in 2014. At Montana State, her research focused on characterizing the training habits of competitive Masters Nordic skiers and won several student-research awards. Currently, Tara is a running coach for individual athletes of varying running disciplines (5Ks to mountain ultra races) and will be working with the Milligan Cross-Country and Track and Field teams throughout her doctorate program. At ETSU, she hopes to research and develop training protocols for using power output in distance running events (particularly trail running) as a training metric utilizing some of the new running power meters on the market. Her research interests and specialties also include training and racing for trail running events, strength training for trail runners, nutrition for optimal endurance performance and recovery, monitoring fatigue and training load in runners, self-report training logs, year-round periodized training for winter sports, and eating disorder prevention. |
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Derek Wilcox, BS
Derek is a first year PhD Student at ETSU. He has competition history of a decade in:
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Nobuhisa Yoshida, MS, CSCS, CES, USAW-SPC, TPI-1
Nobuhisa is a second year PhD student in ETSU’s Sport Physiology and Performance program. Originally from Japan. Prior to ETSU, he spent two seasons as an athletic performance assistant and athletic performance intern for San Antonio Spurs (NBA). He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science from University of Toledo, and his Master of Science degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from University of Florida. He also worked as a graduate strength and conditioning assistant for men’s basketball and men’s and women’s tennis and Golf at University of Florida. His research interests include athlete monitoring, strength and power development, sports performance, and sports nutrition. |
