Emma Hanke, a junior exercise science major at Doane, is gearing up to present her research on injury prevention in female athletes at this year's Mind Expo. Hanke, who was recently named a SHAPE Nebraska 2025 major of the year winner, started her passion project in April 2025.
Below, she answers a few questions about her research.
You mentioned you started this research project on your own - so it wasn’t a requirement for your major or a class. Why did you decide to pursue it by yourself as a larger project?
Emma:
Correct, I chose to start research on my own because I wanted to challenge myself by turning my thoughts and hopes into reality. For many female athletes, knee injury is a common occurrence that I can firsthand say I have experienced. Female athletes are more susceptible to knee injuries, such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, due to the anatomical differences between male and female bodies. Females run a higher risk (mainly due to having wider hips), which makes us 2-8 times more likely to suffer a knee injury. Having suffered an ACL injury in high school, I have known and understood this issue for a while, but it was not until I got to college and began to see so many female athletes around me suffer knee injuries as well.
How have Tessa Durham Brooks, Ph.D. [Biology Professor] and Rebecca Sprouse [Assistant Professor of Practice/Director Pre-Health Programs] helped you throughout the process?
Emma:
I was not aware of the true research opportunities that Doane has until having a conversation about my frustrations on knee injuries with Professor Rebecca Sprouse. She mentioned to me that I could take my ideas and formulate them into a research project for credit. For that, I give Becca a lot of thanks because she opened a door for me that I would not have otherwise known about.
[More on Dr. Brooks in the next response]
What does your research process look like?
Emma:
I started working with Dr. Tessa Brooks as my research advisor to help guide my project. We have been working on this since April 2025 to create a study done with female athletes at Doane. This study was conducted in the Fall 2025 semester with some women's basketball players. They completed a knee injury prevention program and were tested before, during, and after the study. The purpose of the study is to see if injury prevention exercises and workouts can decrease the susceptibility of knee injury. Additionally, I have reached out to all the women's athletic teams at Doane to submit an anonymous survey response discussing many things attributed to knee injury prevalence in female athletes.
Will this spring be your first time presenting at Mind Expo?
Emma:
This coming April will be my first time presenting at Mind Expo which I am very excited about! Right now I am starting my data analysis work with Dr. Brooks and others. This project has been a labor of love for me and I am looking forward to sharing my project to many in the Doane community!
