Mahda Shabani, John Giuffrida, Dr. Fietz, and Dr. Fears volunteered at the Magnolia Rose Foundation’s Sensory Friendly Movie Play Date at the AMC Theater. They spoke with families about LSU autism research and monitored the entrances and exits to the movies to ensure could have a comfortable time and no one eloped from their families.
Nick Fears, PhD, an assistant professor in the LSU School of Kinesiology, has been honored with the 2025 Lolas E. Halverson Motor Development Young Investigator Award by the International Motor Development Research Consortium (I-MDRC). This prestigious award recognizes his significant contributions to motor development research, particularly his work aimed at improving the lives of neurodivergent individuals through the study of dynamic relationships among motor, visual, and cognitive processes. Dr. Fears leads the Human Development & Daily Life (HuDDL) Laboratory and serves on the executive committee of LSU’s Early Childhood Education Institute. He has also secured funding from various organizations, including the Department of Defense Autism Research Program, to further his research. He will receive the award and present his work at the 2026 I-MDRC Conference in Brazil.
WBRZ sat down with Nick Fears, PhD, and talked about the Motor Skills app to meet the needs of autistic children.
Emma Vũ and Mahda Shabani graduated this May with their Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology with a concentration in Human Movement Science and Master of Science in Kinesiology, respectively. Emma will begin medical school at LSU New Orleans in the Fall and Mahda will continue with the HuDDL Lab to complete her PhD in Kinesiology. Congratulations Emma and Mahda!
Emma Vũ received the Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award for the research she conducted in the HuDDL Lab! Congratulations Emma!
Dr. Fears, Emma Vũ, and Mahda Shabani presented their research at the International Society for Autism Research Annual Meeting in Seattle Washington. INSAR was attended by over 2000 autism researchers from more than 45 countries! Mahda presented National Institutes of Health (NIH) and LSU Provost's Fund supported research on “Upper Extremity Movements During Feeding in Autistic Children”. Emma presented a poster titled “The Influence of Body-Object Interaction Rating on Semantic Processing in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults”, which was also funded by the LSU Provost’s Fund, as a collaboration between Fears, Dr. Eileen Haebig (LSU Communication Sciences & Disorders), and Dr. Christopher Cox (LSU Psychology).
A research team from LSU's School of Kinesiology, led by Dr. Nick Fears, has received a $50,000 grant from the Healthy Weight Research Network to adapt the "Mission: Play" app for autistic preschoolers. Originally developed by Dr. Amanda Staiano and Dr. Kip Webster, the app offers 10-minute motor skill activities that are easy to integrate into daily routines without requiring special equipment. The adaptation aims to make these interventions more accessible and tailored to the needs of autistic children and their families, addressing the challenges posed by traditional, time-intensive therapies. This initiative seeks to enhance motor skills, promote physical activity, and improve the overall quality of life for autistic children.
Emma Vũ presented her honors thesis research as a poster titled “The Influence of Body-Object Interaction Rating on Semantic Processing in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults” at LSU Office of Undergraduate Research’s Discover Day.
The HuDDL Team and collaborators, Drs. Eileen Haebig in Communication Disorders, Helena Fietz in Anthropology, and Wan-Chun Su in Kinesiology, hosted an informational table at the Families Helping Families Active for Autism 2025 event in Baton Rouge. HuDDL Team members provided information to families about LSU’s autism research and how they can participate!
Researchers at Louisiana State University's School of Kinesiology have been awarded a $100,000 grant from the LSU Provost’s Fund for Innovation in Research to develop a virtual reality (VR) classroom. The interdisciplinary team, led by Dr. Wan-Chun Su and including Drs. Nicholas Fears and Hyun Kim, along with Jason Jamerson from the College of Art & Design and College of Music & Dramatic Arts, aims to study how individuals navigate social environments and how their gait patterns and brain activity change when moving around people and obstacles. The VR classroom will feature a 180-degree immersive environment and a force-sensing treadmill, enabling participants to walk through various scenarios while researchers collect data on motion and neural activity. This research is particularly focused on understanding motor difficulties in autistic individuals, with the goal of informing intervention strategies and improving quality of life.
The HuDDL Team and CHSE Ambassadors volunteered with Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health Pediatric Developmental Medicine & Therapy centers to provide adaptive bikes for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities.
LSU Ogden Honors College students Tiernan Dautle and Peter Vallet have been named 2024 Astronaut Scholars by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding college juniors and seniors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Dautle and Vallet are the 17th and 18th LSU students to receive this honor, highlighting the university's commitment to academic excellence in STEM disciplines.
Dr. Fears and Mahda Shabani presented their research at the joint meeting of the International Motor Development Research Consortium and International Society of Research and Advocacy for Developmental Coordination Disorder in Ghent, Belgium. Dr. Fears presented his research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as symposium titled “Characterizing goal-directed whole-body movements in autistic children and children with Developmental Coordination Disorder” and hosted a workshop on data sharing for COMBINE. Mahda presented her work with Dr. Julie Schneider and Dr. Emily Marcinowski as a poster titled “Exploring the relation between GMFM scores and orientation preferences in infants during free play”.
Dr. Fears and students from the LSU School of Kinesiology volunteered with Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health Pediatric Developmental Medicine & Therapy centers to provide an opportunity for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities to participate in canoeing, playing games, and picnicking.
Tiernan Daulte and Iresa Lincoln presented their research from the HuDDL Lab as a poster at the LSU Office of Undergraduate Research’s Discover Day.
The HuDDL Team and Dr. Eileen Haebig in Communication Disorders hosted an informational table at the Families Helping Families Active for Autism 2024 event in Baton Rouge. HuDDL Team members provided information to families about LSU’s autism research and how they can participate! HuDDL also received medal for our support of the event!
A research team from LSU's School of Kinesiology, led by Dr. Nick Fears, has received a $50,000 grant from the Healthy Weight Research Network to adapt the "Mission: Play" app for autistic preschoolers. Originally developed by Dr. Amanda Staiano and Dr. Kip Webster, the app offers 10-minute motor skill activities that are easy to integrate into daily routines without requiring special equipment. The adaptation aims to make these interventions more accessible and tailored to the needs of autistic children and their families, addressing the challenges posed by traditional, time-intensive therapies. This initiative seeks to enhance motor skills, promote physical activity, and improve the overall quality of life for autistic children.
In January 2023, Louisiana State University (LSU) announced its largest-ever investment in seed funding for faculty research through the Provost’s Fund for Innovation in Research. A total of $1.1 million was awarded to 33 projects involving 77 faculty members across eight colleges and schools. These projects align with LSU’s Scholarship First Agenda and focus on five strategic priority areas—agriculture, biomedicine and biotechnology, coast and environment, defense and cybersecurity, and energy—collectively known as the LSU Pentagon.
The Provost’s Fund offers two primary types of grants: Emerging Research Grants for individual investigators and Big Idea Research Grants for interdisciplinary teams. The Big Idea grants are structured in three phases, providing up to $250,000 to support the development of large-scale, nationally competitive research proposals.
This initiative aims to transform innovative ideas into impactful research programs that can attract external funding and enhance LSU’s national research profile. The funded projects address critical issues such as developing new antibiotics, exploring low-carbon energy alternatives, and removing persistent environmental pollutants.