The Michigan State University Department of Kinesiology honored the following individuals during its17th annual awards luncheon on April 13, 2012:

Bonnie Smoak – Alumni Professional Achievement Award

Bonnie Smoak earned a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the College of Education in 1985, and has spent her career focusing on emerging pathogens and infectious disease surveillance systems on a global scale. Smoak served in the U.S. Army for 26 years before retiring as a colonel in 2008. Some of the highlights of her career include time spent in Kenya researching malaria, enteric pathogens drug resistance patterns and viral hemorrhagic fevers, as well as serving as commander of the United States Army Medical Component – Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences from 2005 to 2007. Smoak is now chief of the Department of Health Systems at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. She is currently leading a team working in Kenya, Uganda, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to enhance their public health infrastructure’s abilities to detect, diagnose and report infectious diseases.

Moe Machida – Outstanding Doctoral Student Award

Moe Machida is currently working on a research project on women’s leadership development among college coaches, as funded by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). To date, she has presented at the national and international conference levels. Machida actively serves as a student representative of the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and was selected to serve as a student editor of of the association’s new online journal, Sport Psychology in Action. Machida has had articles published in four peer-reviewed journals, with three currently in review. She also was recently invited to review a manuscript for the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology.

Gregory Immink - Outstanding Master Student Award

Coming to Michigan State University with professional basketball-playing and coaching experience in Europe, Gregory Immink has been very active in his first year as a Spartan. Already, he has run basketball and strength and conditioning clinics for youth and has even started his own basketball training business, employing what he has learned from his coursework in the College of Education. Immink is currently doing research on coaches’ views of the challenges they face working with Millennial student-athletes. He has presented at the Midwest Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium, and has taught tennis, volleyball and weight training courses — all of which were rated very highly by his students.

Alaina K. Vince – Outstanding Senior Award

In her time at Michigan State, Alaina Vince has led as a research assistant in the Human Energy Research Laboratory (HERL), working on notable research topics including the outcomes of physical activity during pregnancy and the longitudinal validity of accelerometry in youth. She has also worked with Crim Fit, Project FIT and a partnership between the MSU Department of Kinesiology and physical education classes in East Lansing Public Schools. Vince has presented at both the Michigan and Midwest ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) meetings as well as MSU’s University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF). She has an extensive background in university and community service and received the 2012 Major of the Year Award from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

McKayla P. Hanson – Community Service Award

With plans to pursue a doctorate in physical therapy, McKayla Hanson has been serving as a physical therapist aide and a teaching assistant for KIN 465 – Adapted Physical Activity. On campus, she has participated in Relay for Life as survivorship co-chair and is a member of the MSU Pre-Physical Therapy Association. Hanson has volunteered over 100 hours at Sparrow Hospital on the inpatient rehab floor and pediatric unit, was a camp counselor at “CAMP YES I CAN!”, and has been involved with Colleges Against Cancer. She also has recruited physically challenged persons to participate in physical activity through the Challenged Athletes Foundation in San Diego, Ca.

Read a related article about Hanson preparing to participate in the Ironman Triathlon — despite the fact that she only has one leg.

Tags: Award, Kinesiology