PhD Students
PhD Students
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John Abbott, MS, CSCS
John is a first year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance program. Originally from southern New Jersey, John earned his B.S. in Kinesiology and M.S. In Exercise and Sport Physiology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. As a former DII competitive diver and competitive cyclist, John is eager to combine his passion for power and agility with endurance sports. John has served as a strength and conditioning coach in two private-sector strength facilities working with high school athletes as well as the Junior Flyers Developmental Hockey program. John also worked with Cadence Cycling and Multisport, Philadelphia, PA, as an exercise physiologist, bicycle fitter and mechanic. John conducted VO2 maximum, lactate threshold, and metabolic efficiency tests on amateur and elite-level athletes, as well performed bicycle fittings using Retul technology. His research interests include: strength training effect on endurance athletes, wearable technology, muscle oxygenation based training, as well as bicycle fit modifications and the effect on performance. |
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Abdulmalek Bursais, MS
Malek is from Saudi Arabia. He is a former athlete for the Saudi National Tennis Team. He played in the Davis Cup and the Asia Olympic Games, "Guangzhou 2010", with the Saudi Men's Tennis Team. Malek earned his B.S. in Physical Education from King Faisal University, and M.S. in Physical Education with a concentration in Coaching from Indiana State University. He is a second year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Sport Performance program. He is married and has a son. Malek currently works with ETSU's Tennis Team as a Strength and Conditioning coach. His research interests include quantifying on-field/court workloads through wearable technologies, long-term athletes development, and coach education. |
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Christine Coniglio, MA, CSCS
Christy is a second year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Sport Performance program. Originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, Christy is a returning student to the ETSU Sport Science program, having earned her MA in Kinesiology and Sport Studies in 2014. After graduating from ETSU, she served as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at East Carolina University, Strength and Conditioning Program Developer for Raleigh Police SWAT, & Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Armstrong State University in Savannah, GA. Christy also served as a full-time faculty member at Armstrong State University and has taught numerous courses related to exercise physiology and strength and conditioning. As a former collegiate athlete, she came to understand the importance of strength and conditioning as well as the need for appropriately trained strength and conditioning coaches. She has given a variety of presentations to organizations such the NSCA and CSCCA stressing practical application and scientific foundations in strength and conditioning. Her research interests include long term monitoring and development, quantifying on-field/court workloads through wearable technologies, and coach education. |
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Aaron Cunanan, MS, CSCS, USAW
Aaron is a doctoral fellow in the Sport Physiology and Performance program at ETSU. He received his master's degree in kinesiology and wellness from LSU Shreveport, and has been an adjunct instructor at LSU Shreveport since 2012. 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. 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 weightlifting biomechanics, adaptations to resistance training, and athlete monitoring. Aaron resides in Johnson City, Tenn., with his wife and their three children. |
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Asher Flynn, MS, CSCS
Asher is a second 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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Kaela Hierholzer, MS
Kaela is a first year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance program. Originally from Ohio, she earned her B.A. in Exercise Science - Health Management from Adrian College, where she played golf and ran track, and she earned her M.S. in Exercise Physiology and Fitness Leadership from Northern Illinois University. Prior to coming to ETSU, Kaela has served on multiple coaching staffs throughout various sports. Most recently, she was a Golf Professional for many years, as well as an Exercise Physiologist for the United States Air Force. Her research interests include the relationship between golf performance and sport science, tactical strength and conditioning, supplementation, and wearable technology. |
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Ai Ishida, CSCS, USAW
Ai is a first year PhD student in the Sport Performance program. Originally from Yokohama, Japan, Ai earned his B.S. in Sports Sciences from Waseda University and M.S. in Exercise and Wellness from Arizona State University. During his time in Arizona, Ai served as a Sports Performance intern at Arizona State University and Fischer Institute working with Men’s and Women’s basketball, baseball, lacrosse, softball, soccer, wrestling, NFL combine candidates and NFL. Ai’s research interests include GPS monitoring in sport performance and injury prevention. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and as a Sports Performance Coach through USA Weightlifting. |
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Henry Lang, MA, USAW, TRX, ACE, CSCS
Henry is a second year PhD student in the Sport Physiology program. Originally from Iowa, he earned his master's in Kinesiology – Strength and Conditioning, from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). He served as an assistant strength coach for the UNI volleyball and football teams, as well as the Assistant Fitness Coordinator. Prior to attending ETSU, Henry held a personal training role in Seattle, WA at Pro Sports Club. The club focused on implementing habit-changing protocols, helping clients normalize weight and metabolic factors. His research interests include muscle damage bio-markers resulting from resistance training, and muscle remodeling brought on by training maximum power output. |
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Jason P. McCleery, CSCS, TSAC-F, NSCA-CPT
Jason is a first year PhD student. Previously, he worked for Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy in Vail, CO as a strength & conditioning coach for the acrobatic athletes (Freeski, Freestyle, and Snowboard). While in Colorado, he also served as an intern at the NSCA World Headquarters in Colorado Springs. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from Western Illinois University and now works with the Milligan College Women’s Basketball team. He plans to pursue a career in strength and conditioning and to become a professor. |
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Paul Moquin, MS, CSCS, TSAC-F, USAW-1
Paul is a second year PhD student in the Sports Physiology and Performance program. He received his B.S in Exercise Science from the University of Pittsburgh and his M.S in Exercise Science from The George Washington University. While attending GW, he was a graduate assistant for the Center for Weight Loss and Human Performance Lab. During this time, he was also the strength and conditioning intern with the Washington Wizards of the NBA. After graduation, he went on to intern at the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Headquarters in Colorado Springs. The two years prior to attending ETSU, Paul trained a myriad of athletes from the professional, college and high school setting in both Pennsylvania and DMV area. His research interest entails periodization and hypertrophy in trained and untrained individuals. |
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Keith Painter, MA, CSCS, USAW-SPL1, NREMT
Keith is returning to ETSU as a first year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Sport Performance program. He received a B.S. in Exercise Science from Truman State University and an M.A. in Kinesiology & Sport Studies at ETSU. As a former college athlete, Keith developed a passion for strength training and athlete monitoring. He is a periodization advocate and continues to inject those principles into his coaching and his own training as a weightlifter to this day. During his time away from ETSU, Keith has coached athletes in the weight room at multiple levels and in a variety of sports. After graduating, he began working with school-age children teaching them the basic movement patterns of weightlifting, running, jumping, and other athletic fundamentals. He later transferred to the high school level by coaching football and track & field throwers. Keith even had the opportunity to work as an assistant to the strength coach with college football players. Through all of this, Keith has maintained his research enthusiasm by working with the University of Michigan on multiple national studies and hopes to put that experience to use in this program. His areas of interest are related to the effects of volume load on athletes young and old. |
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Luis Rodriguez-Castellano, MExSc, CSCS, ISAK-1
Luis is a first year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance program. Coming from Jayuya, Puerto Rico, he earned his B.S. in Physical Education with a double major in Sports Conditioning Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico (PUCPR) in 2009. During his tenure at PUCPR, he was awarded a full scholarship for his role as Assistant Swimming Coach of both the school Varsity, while also working with a local age group swimming team. His duties were the designing of the yearly swimming plan, including the strength and conditioning. While working as a personal trainer, Luis earned his masters in Exercise Science with Specialty in Exercise Physiology from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (UPR-RP). During this time, he interned at the Center of Sports Health and Exercise Science of the School of Medicine of the UPR and also had the opportunity as a coaching intern with the legendary U.S.A. Olympic Swimmer, Dr. Gary Hall, Sr. at the world famous club “The Race Club”. Before arriving at ETSU, Luis worked as an Exercise Physiologist for Cenegenics Puerto Rico, a preventive medicine program, alongside two Physicians and a Nutritionist. Luis’s previous research has been with trained cyclists and the effects of alkalizing supplementation. His future interests are in high intensity and sprint interval training (HIIT & SIT) for athlete performance, athlete monitoring, periodization and strength and power for change of direction athletes. |
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Robert W. Sausaman, MS, MBA, CSCS
Robert is a second 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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Austin Smith, MS, ACSM-EPC
Austin is a second year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance Program. He is currently an assistant coach for the Milligan Track and Field team for the throws as well as the strength and conditioning for the team. He received a BS in Exercise Science and a MS in Exercise Science with a specialization in Human Performance from Liberty University. From 2011 to 2015, he worked as a coach’s assistant with the Liberty University Track and Field Team dealing primarily with video and technique analysis with field event athletes. He worked as an intern with Professional Referee Organization working with GPS monitoring systems and data analysis. During his master’s degree, he worked as a biomechanics lab graduate assistant and was a volunteer strength coach for the Liberty Men’s Club Ultimate Frisbee Team. His research interests include programming and recovery with ultra-endurance athletes, athlete development, wearable technology, and sport biomechanics. |
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Joanne Spalding, MBA, BA
Joanne is a second year PhD student in the Sport Physiology & Sport Performance program at ETSU. She received her M.A. in Sport Physiology & Performance from ETSU in 2016. A native of Erskine, Scotland, Spalding earned her master's of business administration degree from Averett in 2010 and graduated with honors from Northeastern State University (OK) in 2008 with a degree in health and human performance, and a minor in psychology. Spalding played four years at NSUOK and was a two-year captain. Joanne joined the ETSU women’s soccer coaching staff in 2014 after serving as an assistant coach at Averett University in Danville, VA, from 2008-2013. |
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Kyle Travis, MS, CSCS
Kyle is a first-year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Sport Performance program. He is from Picayune, MS which is right outside of New Orleans, LA for a point of reference. Prior to his PhD opportunity, Kyle completed his BS in Human Performance with an emphasis in Exercise Physiology at the University of Southern Mississippi. Thereafter, he completed his MS in Applied Sport Science here at ETSU conducting his own original research. His research interests revolve around peaking and tapering for individual strength-power athletes such as weightlifters, powerlifters, and throwers. Kyle's research interest contributes to determining how, when, and why high-level athletes peak for major competitions. He also enjoys research pertaining to periodization and programming tactics for the individual strength-power athlete. Kyle is part of the sports science staff, graduate assistant coach for the para-powerlifting team, and also the lead sport scientist and strength coach for two of the most successful teams at ETSU, men and women’s tennis. Being infatuated with strength sports, Kyle also enjoys competing in powerlifting and highland games, and occasionally dabbling in strongman. |
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John P. Wagle, MS, CSCS, SCCC
John P. Wagle is a fellow in the Sport Physiology and Performance doctoral program. He serves as the Strength & Conditioning Coach and Sport Scientist for ETSU baseball. Additionally, Wagle assists Dr. Brad DeWeese in training and monitoring Olympic Training Site athletes. Wagle has been an invited speaker on a number of topics, including periodization and programming tactics, athlete monitoring, and accentuated eccentric loading. Prior to the opportunity to join ETSU, Wagle was the Director of Sports Performance at DePaul University, overseeing all aspects of the department and working specifically with men’s basketball, women’s softball, and men’s tennis. At the high major collegiate level, he has had the privilege of coaching 3 All-Americans, 11 conference players of the year, and well over 50 all-conference selections across a variety of sports. Wagle earned certification from several well-regarded governing bodies in the field of strength and conditioning, including the CSCCa, NSCA, and USAW. |
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Joseph Walters
Joseph is a second year 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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Alex Brown, BS, CSCS, USATF 1, ISAK L1
Alex is a first year doctoral student in sport physiology and performance. Alex grew up in Indianapolis, IN and completed his undergraduate studies at Marian University. During his time as a student at Marian, Alex was a member of the Knights football team, earning Academic All-American twice and is a two-time NAIA Football National Champion. Alex graduated with his master’s degree in sport science and coach education from ETSU in 2018 and currently works with the ETSU Men’s Soccer program as a part of the Strength and Conditioning/Sport Science staff. In addition to his duties with the soccer team, Alex helps supervise the ETSU Olympic sports weight room. |
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Tara Whiton, MS, CSCS, CISSN, ISAK I
Tara is a third year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance program at ETSU. After achieving ABD, Tara relocated to Maine where she is now the Dean of Athletics at Gould Academy - a private high school. At Gould she is responsible for all administrative duties related to athletics (game scheduling, equipment/uniform management, staffing etc), the Head of the new Strength and Conditioning program, a teacher for health/nutrition, a coach educator, and a role model to 250 teenagers. Tara's passion for proper coach education in the fields of sport performance and nutrition and work at ETSU positioned her for a well-rounded administrative role where she can serve as a resource for coaches and directly influence decisions and outcomes with student-athletes. She hopes to facilitate change in the coaching world; to elevate it to more of a profession than side job and at Gould (and with the help of the ETSU community) she can thoroughly oversee resources and education of coaches to bolster all programs and the resulting performance, health, and well-being of all student-athletes. Tara's hope for working with younger student-athletes is that they learn discipline and enjoyment of training, learn to live the balanced lifestyle of being a student-athlete, have success in high school sports, and finally get recruited to great colleges for academics and athletics. In her free time, Tara is writing her dissertation on the effects of chronic branched-chain amino acid supplementation on the training characteristics of distance runners. Tara enjoys learning and writing about comprehensive approaches to sport performance with strength and conditioning and sport nutrition being her preferred topics. |
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Derek Wilcox, MS, PhDc, TPI
Derek is a third year PhD Student at ETSU. He has competition history of a decade in:
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Alyssa Younker, MS, ACSM EP-C
Alyssa is a first year PhD student in the Sport Physiology and Performance program at ETSU. She completed her BS in exercise science at the University of North Florida. There, she was a DI scholarship Track & Field athlete for all four years of her undergraduate career. After graduation she became a certified exercise physiologist through ACSM. Alyssa received her MS in Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina, concentrating in applied physiology. At the University of South Carolina, she was a research assistant in the Physiology of Exercise & Nutrition laboratory. During her time at South Carolina, Alyssa was also the head teaching assistant for numerous labs such as; Anatomy & Physiology, Physiology of Muscular Activity, and Sports Nutrition. Her long-term goal is to become a professor and researcher in the field. |