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| Josh Goodwin |
by Rachel Gallagher
Goodwin gets one step closer to his dream career
At 10 years old Josh Goodwin dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Although baseball was his passion, he also thought about a career in physical therapy or even medicine.
Now the senior from Albuquerque has his eyes set on medical school – an interesting twist in his college career, which began at two different schools. Goodwin, a star athlete and graduate of Del Norte High School, attempted to keep his dreams of playing ball at Phoenix Community College in Arizona after a disappointing senior year plagued by injury.
Goodwin played for a year before transferring to College of DuPage in St. Charles, Ill. He says he made the move to experience a different area and be closer to family. At DuPage, he chose not to play ball. Instead, his interests in physical therapy rekindled. He became a certified physical trainer and after a year at DuPage, he decided to continue his education at New Mexico State University.
He delved into full course loads of biology, chemistry and biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. Never taking his mind or studies off of exercise physiology, Goodwin caught the eye of Joseph Berning, assistant professor and director of exercise physiology lab in the College of Education. Goodwin says Berning took him under his wing, keeping him involved in several research projects including the acute effects of functional isometric half pulls and squats on vertical jump and self-perception of body composition.
“I can’t thank Dr. Berning enough for giving me this opportunity,” Goodwin says.
Goodwin, who graduates in May, also credits Berning with helping him pursue medical school. Berning says Goodwin’s potential and ambition make him an obvious candidate.
To understand Goodwin’s potential, Berning says, one only needs to look at his full plate, which includes two jobs, several difficult courses each semester and extensive research hours – all while maintaining a 3.8 GPA.
Goodwin works 20-30 hours a week (including weekends and holidays) at Mountain View Medical Center as a physical therapy technician and 10-15 hours a week in the exercise physiology lab. He has presented research abstracts at local and national conventions and will present at the Annual American College of Sports Medicine Convention in June.
Goodwin isn’t fazed by the ambitious schedule.
“I’ve always been pretty organized and dedicated to what I have to get done,” Goodwin says. “I know what I want to do and I know what it takes, so I do it.”
Goodwin, who is particularly interested in cardiology, has applied to the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and will find out in March if he is admitted.
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| Madeline Gillette |
by Jeany Llorente-Ontiveros
NMSU student helps in the development of commercial product
NMSU graduate student Madeline Gillette has been involved with a project that could potentially save hundreds of teenage lives.
Gillette, who is working on a master’s degree in economics in the College of Business, has been helping the Santa Fe company PaceIgnitions develop a business plan for a Global Positioning System-based device that is a safety and teaching product. This project is being done through NMSU’s Arrowhead Center Inc., an enterprise created to commercialize new technologies and stimulate economic growth in the state.
According to the company, the device “allows parents to program speed thresholds, allowable time of operation and distance from home thresholds for their teenage driver.”
Gillette worked on a market analysis for the product and looked into competitors, market size, barriers in entering this market, reasons people might want the device and tools consumers might be looking for in this type of product.
One of the most enjoyable and interesting tasks for Gillette was producing an online consumer survey.
“I learned a lot about online surveys and ways they are different from normal surveys,” she said. “I also learned about the importance of getting consumer opinion because (the results) didn’t come back exactly how I thought (they) would.”
Gillette noted that some of the features she thought consumers would want didn’t rate well, but overall she says the responses were positive.
For the survey, 200 parents of teenagers were asked several questions about the product from safety issues to the overall feel of the devices.
Gillette also did research on promotions and incentives. For instance, she looked into how to reach different levels of consumers.
The Las Cruces native is not the only student receiving realworld experience.
“(PaceIgnitions) is one of several projects undertaken by the Arrowhead Center through student research assistants and students participating in the MBA capstone class,” said Kevin Boberg, the center’s director. “On average, we work on 20 projects per semester, involving in excess of 40 students.”
Boberg added: “Madeline has done an exceptionally thorough analysis, including secondary research, surveys and expert interviews. I think her client would attest that her contributions have significantly contributed to the potential commercialization of the product.”
Gillette, who has a bachelor’s degree in enviromental studies from New College in Florida and a master’s in social work from NMSU, has been with Arrowhead for about a year.
“(This program) helped me learn more about the business environment in general, about entrepreneurship, about writing business plans and doing market analysis,” Gillette says. “It has been an interesting learning experience.”
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