Hidden Houston: Research in Motion

Discover a new 6,000-square-foot innovation hub for human performance technology and training located in Rice University’s Tudor Fieldhouse. The Center for Human Performance is a joint research collaboration among Houston Methodist’s Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Rice University’s Department of Kinesiology, and Rice Athletics. State-of-the-art devices and equipment facilitate the Center’s research and clinical care initiatives focused on the evaluation and customization of exercise techniques and nutrition and sleep regimens that prevent injuries and restore and enhance performance for athletes, performing artists, older adults, people with disabilities, and surgical patients. Rice University’s Augusto X. Rodriguez and Nadia H. Agha will guide us through the center and demonstrate 3D motion capture and strength, force, and balance assessments. They will explain the opportunities the center presents for physicians, researchers, students, trainers, and coaches to foster innovative ideas and make meaningful discoveries across fields as diverse as orthopedic surgery, rehabilitation, kinesiology, biomechanics, and musculoskeletal regeneration.

Augusto Rodriguez is chair of Rice University’s department of kinesiology and the co-director of the Center for Human Performance. He holds a PhD. in kinesiology from the University of Houston and teaches in the areas of health sciences and sports medicine, including epidemiology, statistics for health professionals, and research methods.

Kinesiology faculty member Nadia Agha earned her BS in kinesiology-exercise science and her PhD. in kinesiology at the University of Houston. Her researches focuses on the effects of exercise on patients with cancer, neuromuscular diseases, and diabetes and the benefits of exercise to astronauts’ immune health during space flight.