WESTERN RESEARCH DAY: Western Research Day (WRD) will be held on Friday, May 8, 2026.  Undergraduate and graduate students from ALL DISCIPLINES are welcome. The call for abstracts will go out in March 2026.

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Becca Stearns from the Korey Stringer Institute. Dr. Rebecca Stearns will present a keynote that traces her career at the intersection of research, medical care, and policy advocacy in sports safety. Drawing on her career at the Korey Stringer Institute (KSI), Dr. Stearns will highlight her current research on exertional heat stroke (EHS) trends, particularly in football and road race populations. She will share insights from over 454 documented EHS survivals at the Falmouth Road Race, emphasizing treatment protocols and survival success. The presentation will also feature findings from her recent publication analyzing 40 years of EHS data in the high school setting, which documents over 67 athlete deaths and underscores the urgent need for improved prevention and response strategies. Additionally, Dr. Stearns will showcase the transformative work of the TUFSS (Team Up For Sports Safety) initiative, which has reached 48 states to date and successfully influenced the adoption of over 463 state-level policies aimed at improving outcomes for catastrophic sport injuries in the past seven years. This keynote will offer a powerful narrative of evidence-based advocacy and its real-world impact on athlete safety.