Dr. Jaclyn Maher is the recipient of the 2022 Thomas Undergraduate Research Mentor Award for pre-tenured Faculty.
Assistant Professor Jaclyn Maher is a kinesiologist with a research focus on motivational processes, the impact of physical activity and sedentary behavior on psychological well-being, and the use of technology to capture the dynamics of motivation, behavior, and feelings as well as to intervene in behavior. Since joining UNCG in 2017, Dr. Maher has mentored 21 undergraduates on independent studies in her Physical Activity and Lifetime Wellness lab, with three students continuing on in her lab beyond those initial independent studies.
Maher has over 50 publications and her work has received funding from institutions such as the American College of Sports Medicine and National Institutes of Health. Her most recent R15 grant, from the National Institution on Aging looks at motivational processes in older adults that impact healthy behaviors. By design, the R15 grant integrates undergraduate students into the research process, with Maher’s project supporting two undergraduates per summer across three years.
In Maher’s lab, students gain in-depth, hands-on experience with the processes of physical activity research, including participant recruitment, pilot study procedures, monitoring compliance, and data analysis. To date, three have received internal grants from the School of Health and Human Sciences to conduct independent research projects. Work involving undergraduates in Maher’s lab has resulted in publications in Nutrients and Annals of Behavioral Medicine over the last three years – both with undergraduates as second authors. Two other publications are currently under review at the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, with a student as first author, and the International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, with four undergraduates as co-authors. Her students have also presented work at the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting, National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the UNCG McNair Summer Research Symposium, and the UNCG Thomas Undergraduate Research and Creativity Expo.
Rebecca Rice ’19 on her work with Maher:
“My first semester working with Dr. Maher, I was given responsibilities such as piloting questionnaires, downloading and inputting accelerometer data, and helping to create instructions for the participants who were in the study. I was allowed to lead some of the training sessions with the participants as well. All of these tasks helped me to grow in my ability to problem solve, think outside the box, and become comfortable giving out instruction … Dr. Maher gave me the freedom to develop my own research question, which investigated athletic and exercise identities among student-athletes across the transition out of competitive sport. With her guidance I was able to conduct a literature review, create a scientific abstract, and present my findings. Dr. Maher instilled confidence in me, and no matter how many questions I asked, was always willing to help me, and taught me the skills to answer those questions myself.”
Meghan Harduk, ’19
“Working in Dr. Maher’s lab was an amazing experience for me to see how research is collected and stored, and gave me the opportunity to have hands-on experience with concepts we discussed in class…The relationship I formed with Dr. Maher during this experience was a major part of my decision to continue working in the lab, even after my honors coursework had been completed … This extra time in the lab turned into my senior honors project … I was interested in the relationship between physical activity and dietary intake. This project quickly turned into an educational experience in research unparalleled to anything I would complete as a part of my undergraduate major … Dr. Maher continued to challenge me to do something I had not thought was possible: publish my honor’s thesis findings in a scholarly journal … I am so proud to have been involved in that work during my undergraduate career and have something so prestigious, as an undergraduate, to show for it. If it were not for Dr. Maher’s encouragement and support through my undergraduate career none of this would have been possible.”
