Southern Miss Professor Discusses Brain Trauma During Visit to Camp Shelby
Fri, 03/15/2013 - 02:03pm | By: Ryan Kelly
Dr. Scott Piland, associate professor in the School of Human Performance and Recreation, recently visited Camp Shelby to speak at an event held in conjunction with Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness month.
A group of more than 100 soldiers, support staff, and medical officers of the Medical Task Force Shelby (MTFS), listened to Piland speak on the topic of “Head Protection: Playing Field to Battlefield.”
Piland states, “It is always a pleasure to engage the community to let everyone know the great things that are happening at Southern Miss especially in the School of HPR. We are committed to serve as the state's premiere source for not only education about the brain injury of concussion, but also innovative and novel material technologies to reduce and prevent its occurrence in athletes and warfighters.”
Piland's talk centered around sport-related and warfighter-related mild traumatic brain injury, otherwise known as concussion, and ways to protect individuals from injury. Piland highlighted recent publications and work performed by the Southern Miss Sports and High Performance Materials program, a partnership between the School of Human Performance and Recreation and the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at Southern Miss.
Piland as well as Dr. Trent Gould, interim chair of the school, have been collaborating with several polymers faculty over the years, but have most recently served on a team with Dr. Jeff Wiggins, associate professor of polymers. The team has gained notoriety due to its work in developing a pneumatic cushioning system currently used in football helmets. Working with the Army, the team is now exploring ways for this technology to carry-over for use in military helmets.
“Though there is much still unknown about concussion, we are confident that studying the human-material interface will allow us to develop innovative solutions to protect all who find themselves at risk. From developing new and better clinical tools for medical professionals, to creating novel material solutions to mitigate forces to the head, the School of Human Performance and Recreation and the Sports and High Performance Materials program is ready to serve,” says Piland.
For more information regarding the School of Human Performance and Recreation, call 601.266.5386.