VPR Keane conducts safety visit to Sports Science Laboratory

Christopher Keane, vice president for research at WSU and vice chancellor for research at WSU Pullman, recently conducted a laboratory safety visit at the Sports Science Laboratory.

The Sports Science Laboratory specializes in the dynamics of bat and ball collisions. The results of this work help regulating agencies better understand equipment performance through experimental testing and numeric models. The lab is certified with the NCAA, USA Softball, and USA Baseball and contracts with bat and ball manufacturers to verify compliance and evaluate prototype products. Led by Lloyd V. Smith, director of the Sports Science Laboratory, the lab also supports graduate students who conduct sports science research.

Smith showed Keane a variety of ways the lab conducts research and the safety measures in place, including pitching force cannons, motion tracking, baseball bat and ball certifications, taekwondo research for protective headgear, ball drag rate analysis, bat spring analysis, and bat conditioning.