Students

Texas Exes
	Jonghwan Choi, Ph.D., 1995 Professor, and Director of Athletics Dept. of Physical Education Chungbuk National University Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea choij@cbucc.chungbuk.ac.kr Jonghwan completed his undergraduate degree in Korea, and his Masters Degree at Ball State. He is presently a faculty member in the Department of Exercise Science, and Director of Athletics at Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea. He studies the effects of exercise on the aging cognitive function. He is also interested in exercise prescription about adults and older adults involvement in physical activity.
	Leilani Cronin, Ph.D., 2001 Owner Body Image Austin, TX l.cronin@mail.utexas.edu Leilani received her master's degree from UT in August, 1998, and in conjunction with her doctorate degree in Physical Development and Aging, completed the Institute of Gerontology Doctoral Portfolio Certificate awarded by the Graduate School. While a student, she won the 2000-2001 Karl K. and Marge Klein Graduate Fellowship awarded by the Texas Exes Association, and the Long-McCraw Doctoral Fellowship, awarded by the College of Education. Her research specialization is the development of aerobic fitness and strength in older adults. She is the owner of and Executive Instructor in Body Image, a highly acclaimed personal fitness company that specializes in middle-age and older adult health and fitness.
	Karen Francis, Ph.D., 1999 Faculty San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA kfrancis@sfsu.edu Karen received her master's and doctoral degrees in Motor Behavior from UT, and completed the Doctoral Portfolio Certificate in Gerontology awarded by the Institute of Gerontology through the Graduate School. While a student, she won the Alderson Teaching Excellence Award an unprecedented three times. Upon graduation, she was selected as a recipient of two fellowships from the National Institute of Aging to attend Advanced Research Workshops in Gerontology, one in the fall of 1999, and the other in the summer of 2000.
	Ellen Freiberger, Ph.D. 2000 Wiss. Assistentin Institute of Sport Science University of Erlangen Nuernberg Erlangen, Germany ellen.freiberger@sport.uni-erlangen.de http://www.sport.uni-erlangen.de/homepages/dozenten/freiberger/index.html Ellen worked in my Aging Motor Behavior Laboratory in 1997-1998 during her Ph.D. study at the University of Erlangen - Nuremberg in Germany. She got a scholarship for her PhD study from the Bavarian Ministry. Her research interest is motor coordination and aging. While here she completed one study, ńCoordination, cognition, life activity level, and age in a healthy sample of community dwellers.î She also completed the data collection on another study in collaboration with W.W. Spirduso and K. Francis. She completed her doctorate two years later at the University of Nuremberg, and was retained at the Institute of Sport Science. She is now an associate professor with teaching responsibilities and she is head of the undergraduate program at her Institute. She continues to interact with my students and with me in developing conference symposia and publications. At the moment she is working on Habilitation with a special focus on the effectiveness of balance intervention programs in elderly. In addition she is cooperating with the Institute of Gerontology of her University in an interdisciplinary study for an intervention program with institutionalized elderly sponsored by a 1 Mill. Euro grant of the German Ministry.
	Esbelle Jowers, Ph.D., 2000 Research Associate Department of Kinesiology & Health Education The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX Texan77@hotmail.com Esbelle completed her master's and doctorate degrees in Physical Development and Aging, specializing in physical function in older adults, and in determinants of exercise and physical activity in older adults. While a student, she won a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from the National Institute of Aging to support her dissertation research. Upon graduation, she held a Post Doctoral Research position in the Department of Kinesiology at Kansas State University, where she was the project manager for the "Healthy Youth Places Project" a NIH funded grant project involving 16 middle schools to promote healthy eating and physical activity in adolescents. Currently, she is the Research Project Director for the Initiatives for Children's Activity & Nutrition Project (I-CAN! Project) at The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Kinesiology & Health Education. I-CAN! is funded through the Centers for Disease Control and the Texas Department of Health and is an obesity intervention project which aims to increase healthy choices available at school, promotion of healthy choices, nutrition education, and physical activity in elementary aged children.
	Kathye Light, Ph.D., 1988 Associate Professor Department of Physical Therapy University of Florida Gainesville, FL kathyli.hrp@mail.health.ufl.edu Kathye earned a bachelor's and master degree in physical therapy before her arrival to our program, and completed her doctoral degree in Motor Control. Her current professional interests are in motor behavior problems of elderly clients, particularly those with chronic balance problems, Parkinson's disease, frailty and stroke. She is an Investigator in two large grants: a Veterans Administration Rehabilitation, Research & Development Center.Project titled, "Transcortical Magnetic Stimulation as a Potential Adjunct to Stroke Rehabilitation." The total Center grant is $3,298,000, and it is funded from 1999-2004. She is a Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director of the Florida Center NCMRR Multicenter Grant. The title of this grant is The Extremity Constraint-Induced Therapy Evaluation (EXCITE). It is funded from1999-2004, for $776,000.
	Priscilla MacRae, Ph.D., FACSM, 1984 Professor Physical Education/Sports Medicine Pepperdine University Malibu, CA priscilla.macrae@pepperdine.edu Priscilla received her master's degree from the University of Arizona. She is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. When she completed her Ph.D., she served as a Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Southern California - Andrus Gerontology Center. She studies the effects of exercise on the aging nervous system. Research populations she has studied have included older adults at many levels of function from elite woman marathoners to nursing home residents. She is also interested in children's perceptions and attitudes about older adults involvement in physical activity.
	Jim Martin, Ph.D., 1998 Assistant Professor Department of Exercise Science The University of Utah jim.martin@health.utah.edu Jim returned to graduate school after a ten-year career as a professional engineer. During his engineering career, Jim was a competitive amateur cyclist and won the sprint even at the Master's National Championship in 1988. Not surprisingly, he had a keen interest in maximal cycling power and developed the Inertial Load Power Test while earning his masters degree in Exercise Physiology. During his doctoral work in Physical Development and Aging Jim studied changes in maximal power across the lifespan and collected power production and anthropometric data from more than 200 master cyclists and 40 school children. His dissertation produced four manuscripts, which were published in Journal of Gerontology, Journal of Biomechanics, and European Journal of Applied Physiology. In his current position Jim runs The Neuromuscular Function Laboratory in which he and his students study maximal neuromuscular function in a wide variety of applications. Jim began his academic career with a two-year Research Assistant Professor position at the University of South Carolina before accepting a tenure track position at The University of Utah. Jim is happily married to Suzanne and the proud father of Jenna and Molly.
	Kelly McQueary, Ph.D., 1997 Academic Counselor Department of Men's Athletics The University of Texas Austin, TX kmcqueary@mail.utexas.edu Kelly received her Ph.D. in Educational Administration in 1997. She is an academic counselor in the MenÍs Athletic Department at UT working with the menÍs track and field team, the student-athletic trainers, and the student-equipment managers. She also oversees the athletic departmentsÍ computer lab facilities in the Moncrief-Neuhaus Athletic Center and the Bible Academic Center. Her dissertation, completed in 1997, is ńThe relationship between head coach turnover and team performance in Division I-A football programs from 1978-1995.î In her free time, Kelly volunteers with the First Tee of Greater Austin, an organization committed to enriching kidsÍ lives with lessons taught through the game of golf. Currently, she is involved in a collaborative project involving the First Tee and the UT Department of Kinesiology to measure program outcomes.