American College of Sports Medicine

Welcome 2012!!

I start this year by recognizing our former executive director (Chris Hearon) and now past-president (Scott Mclean) for the time and effort they spent to put on what has been the most productive Annual Meeting in the history of TACSM. We had nearly 400 people register and a record 67 student abstracts. Of particular note is the expansion of the number of undergraduate presenters. I would also like to recognize faculty from Stephen F. Austin, Baylor University, and Mary Hardin Baylor who each brought 30 or more students to the 2012 TACSM Annual Meeting. Thank you for all the people who did the behind the scenes work to make the 2012 TACSM Annual Meeting such an amazing experience for all involved.

In the next 12 months, I plan to continue to guide TACSM in a manner that promotes and recognizes student research. As a member of TACSM if you have any suggestions for future meetings, please do not hesitate to contact myself or our new executive director (Kyle Biggerstaff). We are eager to receive your feedback in order to continue improving the experience for our students.

I would also like to ask you to save the date for the 2013 TACSM Annual Meeting that will be held on Thursday, February 28, 2013 through Friday, March 1, 2013 at the JJ Pickle Research Campus in Austin, Texas. The attendance and student involvement at the last two Annual Meetings in Austin has indicated to the board that Austin is a great venue and a really nice central location. Given these, as president with the board’s support, I have opted to hold the meeting in Austin, rather than Houston next year. Extra thanks goes out to our past-president (Phil Stanforth) for his continued help putting on the Annual Meeting in Austin.

Brian McFarlin, Ph.D., FACSM
TACSM President