Despite being a team leader, Robinson goes on to mention, “During the review of literature process, Jess came to me and stated that she wanted to investigate another question regarding these performing artist. She wanted to look at the dancers performing fundamental dance tasks and see if fatigue would show a difference in the kinematics of these tasks. I explained to her that this would be a separate project from her group project and that this project would be a considerable amount of work for one person. However, Jess was so enthusiastic about this idea that she wanted to proceed. Jess proceeded with her plan and simultaneously collected data for both projects.”

As a result of Jessica’s leadership efforts, both projects were completed and were presented at the physical therapy program’s research symposium. Additionally, both projects were submitted to be presented at the Combined Sections Meeting (CSM) for the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). This is by far the largest meeting held annually for physical therapist (17,000+ attending). Both projects were accepted for poster presentations at CSM which is being held February, 2021.

Smith also submitted her individual project to the Performing Arts Medical Association meeting that is held in June of each year, and decided to apply for the Alice G. Brandfonbrener Young Investigator Award, where she is currently a finalist, and has been invited to present her findings at their upcoming meeting being held the Weil Cornell Medical School in New York in June, 2021. Lastly, Smith has submitted her project, “A Kinematic Analysis of Non-Injured and Injured Professional Ballet Dancers Performing Fundamental Dance Tasks”, for publication and is awaiting acceptance of this paper later this summer.