Job Title
Sole Technology Institute Laboratory Assistant.
Hometown
Seattle, Washington.
Education
Bachelors of Science in Informatics from the University of Washington (2000-2004).
Background
While attending the University of Washington, I developed the Real-Time Action Tracking System (RATS). RATS is a system that can accurately track the airtime, height, speed and the exact degree of rotation of an athlete in a halfpipe, and in the future on any terrain imaginable. Since I enjoy to skate and snowboard, I focused my project on those two sports. I built and mounted a steel cage on the bottom of a skateboard to house and protect delicate electronics for tracking and processing acceleration data. I also used infrared lasers, which I dissected from a salvaged convenience store security system and mounted onto a vert ramp (along with some other electronics) to figure out the airtime and height of anyone catching air out of the ramp.
Through my academic research of the very limited scientific literature available on the topic of skateboarding and snowboarding, I stumbled across the incredible skateboard kinetics research being done here at the Sole Technology Institute (specifically, a paper entitled “Kinetics of the Ollie”) and instantly knew that STI was where I wanted and needed to be.
Job description
In short, my job is to assist in everything that goes on here at the STI Lab. That could mean conducting, assisting, or participating in wear testing, fit testing, physical testing, and / or biomechanical testing. I also get to tackle hard information problems and brainstorm about future footwear technologies and custom physical testing machines. The degree I earned at UW was all about learning how to develop solutions to information problems. Solving information problems in the STI Lab is one my favorite jobs here. Someone might bring in a shoe with vibration-activated blinking lights and ask us to figure out how many times it can blink before it burns out. Since we don’t already have a machine to give us this information, I get to figure out how we can retrofit a machine we already have or build from scratch a machine to gather the required information.
What have you accomplished at the Sole Technology Institute so far?
Since I have been at STI, we have developed an Ollie/Kickflip Damage Simulator, a Grip Tape Lace Abrasion Tester, a test to measure board feel in skate shoes, a standard test method for doing sandal strap pulls, a rig for determining the number of blinks a vibration activated blinking shoe can do before it burns out, brainstormed several future footwear technologies, developed patent pending technologies, submitted a couple of papers which are in the process of being approved for publication in scientific journals, had an abstract published in the Fifth World Congress of Biomechanics, at which Jeremy gave a presentation, and written programs to automate some of the human-intensive data analysis procedures we conduct at the STI Lab. This automation has helped us speed up our data analysis process and helped to prevent any chance of human error.
We have also developed a stronger understanding and mastery over our seven-camera 3-D motion capture system. We can now model the entire human skeleton of a subject skateboarding, as well as the skateboard itself in a 3-D space. We can use that model to track joint angles while a subject is skateboarding or find out how fast a skateboard is rotating during a kickflip, as well a many other very interesting metrics. We have developed our own soft motion capture markers to prevent bruises when our subjects fall. We have gained an even further understanding of the kinematics of the kickflip and the Ollie, including toe box pressures during the flick phase of a kickflip, built a sweet bank ramp in the Lab with Jeff King, and conducted on-the-mountain snowboard biomechanics research, including in-boot pressures, in-boot temperatures, and ankle range-of-motion during takeoffs, landings, cornering, and riding in the halfpipe.
What do you hope to accomplish in the future?
In the future, I would like to see The Science and Medicine of Action Sports Symposium become a reality and see it being hosted here at STI. Hopefully, in the very near future, we will be able to conduct some snowboard 3-D motion capture experiments in the snow or at least on some artificial snow surfaces. I hope to see smaller and better sensor technologies that we can adapt to continue to gain a better understanding of skateboard, snowboard, BMX and other action sports biomechanics. With this research, I hope we can create more new technologies to enhance the ability of these athletes and to further prevent heel bruises and ankle injuries in skateboarding and prevent the snowboarder’s talus fracture and other ankle injuries in snowboarding.
I hope to continue to publish our research in scientific journals and maybe even create the first scientific research journal focused exclusively on the science and medicine of action sports. I would also love to see the STI Lab get to the point where we can have somewhat of a skateboarding training facility where a skater could come in and get suited up with sensors and do kickflips, Ollies or whatever, and we could use our technology to help them discover how to pop their Ollies up higher and flip their board around quicker.
What do you like about working at the Sole Technology Institute?
The Sole Technology Institute is an amazing place to work. I have always really enjoyed to do research and conduct experiments, and I also really enjoy to skate and snowboard. The Sole Technology Institute allows me to combine all the things that I love to do, and at the same time, make a career out of it. I could not think of a more perfect job. Here at STI, we are pioneering the scientific study of action sports. We are conducting groundbreaking, bleeding-edge research on skateboard and snowboard biomechanics, and I feel very privileged to be one of the pioneers and an integral part of this research.
On top of all that, the company and the people are a joy to work for. I take pride in the fact that I work for a company that makes a conscious effort to be environmentally friendly and has a core skateboard brand that I can respect. It is also an amazing perk to have the STI Lab at my disposal. While I am looking at high-speed video of kickflips and pondering 3-D motion capture data, I’m thinking, “Okay, this is how I need to be doing my kickflips and Ollies.”
Conducting biomechanics experiments in the field is one of the most fun and rewarding things I get to do. STI went to Big Bear last season to conduct some snowboard biomechanics research, in which I got to be on the mountain all day either helping the data collection process go as smoothly as possible or being a test subject myself and putting my body on the line for science.
Do you participate in any action sports?
Mainly skateboarding and snowboarding, although I like to ride my BMX bike to get around from skate spot to skate spot.
What do you enjoy doing in your time off?
Skateboarding, snowboarding, bouldering, backpacking, camping, riding my bike, “studying” graffiti, designing and modifying clothing, experimenting with technology, occasionally going to shows, thinking about and creating new inventions, conducting random experiments, spending time with family and friends, and traveling when I get the chance.
Do you have any personal future goals?
I want to eventually get RATS into the Olympic Snowboard Halfpipe Competition or some similar venue. I also want to build a house out of discarded steel shipping containers. I have also been strongly considering the idea of getting my Masters in biomechanics or kinematics so I can make an even stronger contribution to the science of action sports and everything we do here at STI.
