Dr. Lonnie Lowery

Biography

Dr. Lonnie Lowery usually teachs Scholarship (Research), Nutrition, Sports Nutrition, Strength and Conditioning, Exercise Physiology, Senior Seminar, Senior Applied Thesis and the Faculty Research Assistant IDE. Childhood Dream I grew up fascinated by nutrition and resistance training. And I was a nerd in primary and secondary school; I still have my little “all A’s in science” certificate. I became dually-trained because I realized nutrition and exercise physiology are often two sides of the same coin. Accomplishments Some of my proudest moments in my professional career were when I earned my doctorate and dual training, early tenure at a prior institution, my publications with students and faculty mentor awards. Presenting at Oxford was pretty cool, too. Research Interests I’m interested in dietary protein and health, caffeine and coffee products and resistance exercise. Teaching Style I practice project-based learning. I tend to treat students in select courses like graduate students, working alongside them to solve a real research question and submit the work under peer review to a national or international conference. It’s important to us that the effort is “real,” reaching beyond the walls of the classroom. As Sagan said, “The words question and quest are cognates. Only through inquiry can we discover truth.” I tend to be informal and I’m starting to favor a mastery-based learning approach. Research at Mount Union I love doing research and presenting it with students. It feeds the habit I developed over a decade of mentoring grad students at other institutions. We’ve presented and published on a variety of research topics, mostly involving caffeine and resistance exercise. We’ve answered questions on how new coffee products affect women, whether regular use blunts the neuromuscular and psycho-stimulant effects, and now we’re researching what these products do to a person’s hormones and reflexes. Teamwork From my perspective, it’s about the individualized experiences undergraduates can get working with faculty. We have well-appointed campus (including lab) facilities in which to do such things. It’s all about the critical thinking skills and rigorous expectations of working collaboratively to solve real problems. Why Exercise Science It’s rigorous but enjoyable and versatile. Students learn biology, chemistry and research design but also get lab experiences with human subjects. It can be its own career or a steppingstone to a variety of clinical and research careers. Liberal Arts I feel that liberal arts inform and guide science students as much as anyone. I think we can and should embrace the challenge of communicating across the science and humanities boundaries.

Research Interest

protein and health, caffeine and coffee products and resistance exercise.