Sydney Jacobson, a freshman pursuing a BS degree in Kinesiology, presented her research at UW-Milwaukee’s 17th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 25, 2025.
What research did you present?
As a student who received Support for Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) award, I presented “Congruent Validity of GAITRite Spatiotemporal Gait Parameters and the Short Physical Performance Battery in Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease.”
The GAITRite electronic walkway is a portable gait analysis tool measuring spatiotemporal gait parameters. This research aims to determine the congruent validity between GAITRite walkway for quantification of spatial and temporal footstep patterns and the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) in predisposed populations for mobility and functional limitations. In this small sample of individuals with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), early results show the GAITRite to be a valid tool compared with the clinical SPPB total score for measuring mobility and functional limitations in individuals with PD.
Why did you choose to study Kinesiology at UW-Milwaukee?
I find movement of the human body to be fascinating. I am both very passionate about science and exercise–and Kinesiology is a combination of those. Also wanting to help others, I plan to become a sports medicine physician assistant. I chose UWM because the undergraduate research really stood out to me. I knew that I wanted to do research during my undergrad but not a lot of places offer it during undergrad. UWM, being an R1 university, caught my attention and will allow me to stand out when applying for Physician Assistant school. I was able to start research here before I even started my freshman year through the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Summer Research Program.