Jay Bauman graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from University of Chicago before attending a Ph.D. program in applied physiology at Georgia Institute of Technology. For the last two years, Bauman has spent his time in Canada at the University of Calgary participating in a biomechanics fellowship. This is Bauman’s first semester teaching, and though he’s busy now, Bauman enjoys conducting research and hopes to research the difference between novices and experts once things settle down for him.
What made you interested in teaching health and exercise science?
I did biology, but when you study biomechanics — the study of physics and biology coming together — you somehow fall into exercise science. But I was, once upon a time, more of a biologist.
What made you decide to go into education?
I went to Canada to look at industry — there was a lot of industry focus in that job — and industry and I did not see eye-to-eye. They really want 75 percent of the answer as quick as you can get it, which is fine for many things but not for me. I consider myself a scientist, and I want to do things a certain way, and so I realized academia was a better route for me.
Why did you decide to teach at Truman?
Really, it was the [Piper Movement Analysis Laboratory] that drew me here. It’s a real deal, motion analysis lab. Not everywhere can offer that, so I was really excited to see that y’all could offer that. So, that was the main thing in terms of studying it from afar. Of course, once I got here, I was so impressed with how everyone really cared about the students — I was really surprised, but it was really genuine.
Tell me how your time at Truman is going.
It’s going great — it’s been really busy preparing two classes and making up new lectures for every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but I’m enjoying the challenge.
What is your goal as an educator?
In “Anatomy,” I mostly need to cover a pretty clear set of topics. But in my other course, “Motor Learning,” I really want to instill scientific principles — how to think about experiments other people have done, how to read and interpret graphs — the ethics of science, if you will. So, I really want to put the principles of science into motor learning and, to a degree, into anatomy.
What is something unique or interesting about you?
I’m getting into creating my own video games — I’ve only just started but you could call it my new hobby.
This appeared in the Oct. 20 issue of the Index.