SURF fellow feels at home in sport science lab

Mia Laws ’26 is spending the final summer of her undergraduate career at her “home away from home”: the Psychology of Sport Injury Laboratory in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ exercise and sport science department.

With a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the Office of Undergraduate Research, the senior biology major is working in the Woollen Gymnasium space with sport scientist Shelby Baez, a collaborator since her second semester on campus.

Laws came to Carolina ready to research. “You get to ask a question, and you make your own tools to answer that question,” she said.

Named after Mia Hamm, Laws grew up playing soccer and field hockey, so she wanted to find a lab that aligned with her passion for sports. When she learned about Baez’s lab and innovative projects like using virtual reality in ACL recovery, she thought, “That’s pretty cool and unique” and sent Baez an email.

Laws makes time for research projects between classes and other responsibilities like being a medical assistant at UNC Family Medicine Center and an undergraduate research student ambassador.

With her summer fellowship, she has focused on a reliability study with a digital device measuring upper-extremity reaction time. Laws describes it as “Whac-A-Mole on a big board.”

Jokes aside, the device could be a useful tool for both determining the risk of an ACL tear and creating helpful measurements during recovery for those injured.

“We know reaction time is linked to risk of injury, especially in athletic populations,” Laws said. “Having this tool that’s portable be deemed reliable is the goal of my study so that we can use it in future studies to test reaction time.”

Her research

While most research in the Baez lab deals with people with a torn ACL, Laws’ study is with healthy young adults. She’s been tasked with recruiting 40 participants, an experience that reinforced the value of undergraduate research.

“There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes,” Laws said. “You have to do institutional review boards. You have to get the funding. I’ve definitely gotten more exposure to that. I think a lot of people come in and think research is just data collection, but there is a lot of computer work that goes on, too, and data analysis that you wouldn’t really think about.”

Laws previously helped coordinate research on the effectiveness of a VR mindfulness meditation intervention after ACL reconstruction surgery. With another undergraduate, she’s also co-writing a review of existing research on whether cognitive behavioral therapy can help people with both knee osteoarthritis and insomnia.

Beyond the science itself, Laws has learned much about sports medicine and career options from befriending those she works with in the lab. The postdocs are like “older sisters,” and Baez has been an “amazing role model.”

What’s next

Part of their conversations are about the wide range of opportunities in the field. Laws has long considered medical school and has an interest in orthopedic surgery. She could become a doctor or a physician assistant or pursue a master’s degree in exercise science.

As she ponders what’s ahead, Laws remembers Baez’s advice: “Let the doors open for you.”

For now, she’s looking forward to finishing strong as a senior in the Baez lab. That’s one door Laws is glad already opened for her.