UROP Project

Studying Human Motor Learning in Partnership with FSU Circus

athletics, human movement, motor learning, biomechanics

Research Mentor: Dr. Taylor Higgins, She/her
Department, College, Affiliation: Mechanical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Contact Email: th22u@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Engineering and pre-med majors preferred.
Project Location: FSU Circus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

This project explores how humans acquire complex motor skills by partnering with performers in the FSU Circus. Circus athletes regularly learn new, physically demanding skills that require balance, coordination, and timing—making them an ideal group for studying the process of motor learning.

Our goal is to understand how these athletes progress from their very first attempt at a skill to a polished performance in front of an audience. To do this, we will collect longitudinal video data of practice sessions, capturing each step of skill acquisition. Students working on this project will attend practice sessions (approximately three times per week, 30 minutes each) to record video of an athlete learning a new skill, store this data securely, and then help analyze the movement patterns across the training period.
By studying how skilled athletes acquire new abilities, we aim to generate insights that can eventually be translated to rehabilitation contexts. For example, the same principles that enable circus performers to master new movements may also inform how patients recovering from neuromuscular injuries (e.g., stroke, spinal cord injury) can relearn everyday motor skills such as walking or reaching.


Research Tasks: Attend and record practice sessions (~3 per week).
Manage and organize video data for long-term analysis.
Participate in coding and analyzing changes in human movement as learning progresses.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Reliability and punctuality (must consistently attend scheduled practice sessions).
Attention to detail in recording and organizing video data.
Basic technical/computer skills (e.g., saving files, organizing data, working with external hard drives).
Strong communication and professionalism when interacting with circus performers and coaches.
Curiosity and willingness to learn about human movement and motor learning research.
(Optional/Preferred) Prior experience with video editing, coding data, or quantitative analysis of human movement (not required but beneficial).