“An ACL injury today can be career-ending for a female athlete, but for their male counterparts, no longer,” Napolitano stated.
In an electronic mail to KQED, Chang famous that the primary section of analysis will deal with figuring out the most typical accidents to set up baseline information that doesn’t at the moment exist. This contains analyzing return-to-play protocols and the psychological and bodily variables that have an effect on restoration.
The challenge, which is able to seemingly span a number of years, will start with collegiate athletes earlier than increasing information assortment to skilled sports activities leagues and different educational establishments.
Napolitano, the previous Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013, stated these dangers carry over from the sector to nationwide protection. She famous {that a} important variety of girls who’re first responders, in the navy and regulation enforcement, are former athletes, but they’re typically held to coaching requirements or outfitted with gear designed primarily based on male biometrics.
“Here at Berkeley, you can address a gender equity issue while at the same time improving national security,” Napolitano stated through the launch occasion.
Dr. Chang defined the physiological crossover between a midfielder on the soccer pitch and a soldier on the sector, as each teams face excessive bodily coaching calls for and require related psychological fortitude.
“If either woman is experiencing menstrual cycle-related cramping and low back pain, for example, their performance metrics, perceived wellness ratings, and objective sleep quality measurements may be impacted,” Chang wrote in an electronic mail. “And thus their ability to perform their sports and job duties may be affected as well.”
According to college officers, this system will make the most of UC Berkeley’s College of Computing, Data Science, and Society to feed this information into machine studying fashions. The purpose is to establish patterns that human evaluation would possibly miss — predicting harm dangers, optimizing restoration occasions and tailoring diet plans particularly for feminine physiology.
“This is an ambitious endeavor,” stated UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons. “What we learn from this initiative will lead to the creation of new tools — tools that can be commercialized and brought to market.”
The partnership additionally gives the college an opportunity to flip student-athletes into pioneers, stated Jenny Simon-O’Neill, Cal’s co-athletic director. She highlighted the college’s historical past of manufacturing elite expertise like Alex Morgan and Missy Franklin.
“We strongly believe that we have a unique opportunity in the collegiate sports environment to develop leaders of tomorrow,” Simon-O’Neill stated. “Our student athletes understand the importance of innovation.”