About Us

Our Story

Since 2017, the Athlete Engineering Institute has curated strategies to identify a problem, design a solution, and build a team that can execute on implementation.

Timeline of our story

2017

Program Forms

The founding Athlete Engineering team first formed around a wearable technology focused initiative, which was funded through an National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps and NSF Partnerships for Innovation grants to develop a smart sock for assessing athlete performance and injury risk. This initiatives shaped the early efforts of the team in learning how to work effectively as an interdisciplinary team, while also aiming to solve problems that are directly applicable to the practitioners' needs. During this time the team gained extensive experience learning how to validate wearable technologies against gold standard human performance, while also learning to understanding the needs and interests of strength and conditioning coaches training athletes at an elite-level. This first initiative ultimately resulted in 20 publications and 4 patents focused on the development, validation, iteration, implementation, and perception of this technology as it relates to human factors and human performance. 

2018

Sport Science Dashboard Team Created

The research team developed a partnership with MSU athletics, providing services in the form of data dashboarding and analytics, as well as conducting numerous studies utilizing novel sport technologies to provide better insights to MSU strength and conditioning coaches. Over the years, the Athlete Engineering Institute has continued to maintain relationships with MSU athletics as coaching staff evolves and brings new ideas and needs to the table. AEI has engineered several custom solutions to put MSU athletics on the cutting edge of sports technology and gain access to data-driven insights tailored to the coaching staff's needs.

2023

Athlete Engineering Institute Established

Through continued success in execution of research and development initiatives funded through both the public and private sector, the research team officially became its own MSU research center, called the Athlete Engineering Institute. While still actively collaborating with other research centers, AEI now leads a variety of multi-disciplinary initiatives at MSU, which involve conducting research for partners that span all athlete personas. AEI now serves as a key institutional resource at MSU for any researchers and faculty seeking to conduct research that incorporates high-fidelity, high-impact human performance technologies such as motion capture, force plates, instrumented treadmills, prototype development, and more.

2024

Advancements in Manufacturing Upskilling Program

In addressing issues where safety risk for the industrial athlete becomes critical, the research team has investigated approaches in automation to address these gaps. As a result of this and the institute's current expertise in human factors and working with practitioners, AEI developed the Advancements in Manufacturing Upskilling Program (AiM UP), a Department of Labor, Department of Defense, and AccelerateMS-funded advanced manufacturing workforce development program that partners with Mississippi community colleges. In continuing the spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration at MSU, this programs demonstrates the mindset of “Operate Independently, Compete Collectively in Mississippi.”