This website provides details about my professional experiences working in various advanced research, innovation, and sport scientist roles for both small and large corporations, as well as in my application and service based consulting company BEST Performance Group (BPG). There are 3 main sections of the website that focus on my primary specializations in the biomechanical evaluation industry and provide more in-depth detail and professional project experiences and thoughts for these disciplines:
- Biomechanical Evaluation System Technologies
- Biomechanical Evaluation Sports Training
- Biomechanical Evaluation Simulation Testing
This About section provides more details on my personal background, including a more detailed personal biography, a background behind BPG, books that have directly influenced my professional development, a history of my professional experiences including managers and leaders that have strongly influenced my professional development, and more detailed professional project experiences demonstrating application of advanced technologies in the medical device, sports equipment, and sports performance industries.
My professional specialization is in the application of the most advanced biomechanical evaluation technologies and techniques to solve the most difficult engineering challenges and to create innovative product and performance solutions that demonstrate quantifiable improvements in performance metrics while minimizing injury risk. The 4 scientific principles that I use in every project are disciplined research methodologies, use of advanced technologies, consistent scientific process, and quantifiable performance metrics.
Having over 25 years of experience in advanced research and product development and evaluation capacities, I have gained considerable expertise in disciplined research methodologies. From these experiences, I have gained the insight that any successful research program has a dependency on the application of the other 3 principles. More importantly, I have developed the ability to critically review other research programs. You never know in what other engineering disciplines you will find new measurement technologies, software algorithms, or process control techniques. It is important to be able to critically review both internal and external research programs to see where inefficiencies and deficiencies exist and implement the appropriate changes. Most successful research initiatives apply technologies and techniques from a number of different scientific disciplines to solve the challenge at hand.
I have been very fortunate to have worked with and apply the most advanced biomechanical evaluation system technologies to the many engineering challenges presented to me. I have considerable experience and an appreciation for using technology as an accelerator of momentum, not as a creator of it, following one of the main principles of Good to Great. Some advanced research technologies may provide great scientific breakthroughs in the lab, but may be too cost prohibitive for mainstream or commercial use. As a good research scientist, one must be able to leverage those breakthroughs by finding more appropriate cost-effective technologies to bring technology based solutions to commercialization efforts.
My professional experiences have taught me that truly innovative solutions require consistent and persistent application of thorough scientific process. This follows another principle of Good to Great which states that in order to sustain results, it is important to establish a culture of discipline which requires disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought, and then take disciplined action. A good research scientist has to constantly review both internal and external research processes to identify inefficiencies in order to make appropriate changes. I believe that engineering process means not focusing on the results, but rather focusing on the steps of the scientific process. By focusing efforts on the day to day steps in the scientific process, the big results will take care of themselves if the research scientist follows the required culture of discipline.
The final important scientific discipline is the use of quantifiable performance metrics. Without measuring where you start, where you are at, and knowing where you need to go to, it is virtually impossible to gauge improvement in performance. One of the famous quotes I live by is “In God we trust; all others must bring data” by W. Edwards Deming. It is impossible to make good decisions without an honest confrontation of the brutal facts and many people and companies refuse to do that. To improve anything, a thorough understanding of what is currently wrong needs to be established. More importantly, it needs to be quantified. Performance improvement is an engineering discipline that requires quantitative analysis, not qualitative analysis.