NORTHFIELD, Vt. — Norwich University’s Center for Global Resilience and Security presents “Resilient Bodies Are Built to Last: Vermont’s Solution to a National Crisis,” a free two-day event with a virtual panel Feb. 23 and in-person interactive seminar Feb. 24.
Join Drs. Amy Welch, Rachele Pojednic, and Dan Bornstein to discover how teams of tactical athletes — war fighters, police, fire, and first responders — can create programs to enhance resilience on Vermont’s front line. The virtual panel is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Feb. 23. Please register here.
Topics to be covered include:
- How physical and mental health can be optimized through exercise, nutrition and brain training.
- Challenges with our current military and first responder training systems.
- National solutions.
- Local opportunities for enhancement.
- Unique solutions being developed among Norwich University’s academic and military teams.
Learn how help your organization’s people optimize performance and resilience from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Feb. 24 in Norwich University’s Mack Hall Auditorium.
At this in-person, interactive seminar, participants will discuss how individual resilience connects with our behaviors and our body systems and will connect with local and national tactical athlete specialists. Presenters will provide knowledge and skills to incorporate physical activity, nutrition, and mental readiness strategies for first-responder teams. Please register here: https://alumni.norwich.edu/events/resilient-bodies-workshop.
About the presenters:
Rachele Pojednic, Ph.D., Ed.M. is an assistant professor and Exercise Science Program director in Norwich University’s Health and Human Performance Department and a research associate at the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her current work examines lifestyle education for health care and fitness professionals and nutrition, supplementation and physical activity interventions on muscle physiology and performance as well as muscle related chronic disease. Pojednic serves as co-chair of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Exercise Is Medicine® education committee, was interim executive director for the Prescription for Activity Task Force and serves on the American Council on Exercise (ACE) Industry Advisory Panel. Pojednic and her research have been featured in national media including NPR and Time, Popular Science, Self, Forbes and Boston magazines.
Amy S. Welch, Ph.D. is professor and chair of Norwich University’s Health and Human Performance Department. She has 20 years of research and teaching experience in sport and exercise science, with primary expertise on motivation and performance optimization. Her current research focuses on understanding psychophysiological responses to stress, and testing simple behavioral strategies that can mitigate the stress response and build resilience in the autonomic nervous system (e.g., biofeedback training, meditation, breath training, and physical activity). Much of Welch’s work involves studying heart-rate variability as a way to monitor stress and overtraining, including through wearable biometric devices. She has also provided performance psychology consultation for several individual and team athletes at the national and international level, and serves as the Vermont state representative for the New England chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine.
Daniel B. Bornstein, Ph.D. has more than 25 years of experience as a researcher, professor and industry leader. Bornstein served as a tenured faculty member and administrator at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, from 2012 to 2021, where he founded and directed the Center for Performance, Readiness, Resiliency and Recovery (CPR3). Bornstein’s research has been featured in over 130 media outlets worldwide, including USA Today, Newsweek, Stars and Stripes, and NPR. Based on his research, Bornstein has provided numerous briefings to senior military personnel and lawmakers, including briefings at the Pentagon and Capitol Hill. Bornstein holds several national leadership positions, including chair of the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan’s military sector.
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About Norwich University
Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by U.S. Army Capt. Alden Partridge and is the nation’s oldest private military college. Norwich is one of our nation's six Senior Military Colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu
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