Exercise Physiology
Exercise physiology is the study of the body's systems during acute and chronic exercise.
Research
Faculty study function and adaptation to acute and chronic exercise and environmental stresses across the lifespan. Research areas include aging, cardiovascular disease, muscle growth and atrophy, bone health and reproductive function. Our multidisciplinary approach to health and the biology of physical activity utilizes methods ranging from molecular and cellular to human integrative biology.
Graduate Student Research
Students from the Kinesiology graduate program, the Inter-College Graduate Program in Integrative and Biomedical Physiology, and other programs conduct their dissertation and thesis experiments in Noll Laboratory which includes the Elmore Wing and the Clinical Research Center. Topic areas vary depending on the faculty mentors’ research. Students become involved with research projects that are designed to yield information for publication in scientific literature and for presentation at professional meetings. Collaborative arrangements are frequently made with faculty from other areas of the University including the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, as well as researchers outside of the University.
Facilities
Noll Laboratory is a research facility in the Department of Kinesiology that is dedicated to studying physiology, especially as it relates to health and disease. A primary mission of Noll Laboratory is to investigate specific physiological mechanisms underlying the positive health effects of physical activity and the adverse health effects of physical inactivity, with the ultimate goal of improving human health across the life span.
Noll Laboratory features human clinical as well as animal research laboratories for eight Kinesiology exercise physiology faculty. The 30,000 square feet of research space contains human and animal research laboratories and a vast array of specialized instrumentation, equipment, and chambers for the measurement of physiological processes under various conditions.
The Elmore Clinical Research Wing of Noll Laboratory houses the University Park Clinical Research Center which provides University-wide support for human clinical research.
Mentors
Learn more about the faculty members who mentor Exercise Physiology graduate students at Penn State:
- Lacy Alexander, Professor of Kinesiology
- Mary Jane De Souza, Distinguished Professor of Kinesiology
- W. Larry Kenney, Professor of Physiology and Kinesiology
- Donna H. Korzick, Professor of Physiology and Kinesiology
- Gustavo Nader, Professor of Kinesiology
- James A. Pawelczyk, Associate Professor of Physiology and Kinesiology
- David N. Proctor, Professor of Kinesiology, Physiology, and Medicine
- Gwendolyn Thomas, Assistant Research Professor of Kinesiology
- Nancy I. Williams, Professor of Kinesiology
