Cynthia A. Bir, Ph.D.
“Sports Equipment: The Evolution of Protecting Players”
Dr. Cynthia A. Bir is a Professor and Chair in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wayne State University. Dr. Bir has extensive research experience in the area of human injury tolerances. Her research interests include sports injury biomechanics, ballistic impacts, blast injury, and forensic biomechanics. She has studied the effects of impacts to all regions of the body and is known world-wide for her work in this area.
Dr. Bir currently has funding for various research efforts in the area of injury biomechanics. Investigating the effects of ballistic impacts to the human body, research is currently being conducted on Behind Armor Blunt Trauma (BABT) and the assessment of personnel protective gear. She has previously been funded by the Department of Defense to study both blast neurotrauma and lower extremity injury research. Her sports related research includes the evaluation of new protective gear, a cumulative concussion model and real-time data collection of head impacts in boxing and football. Dr. Bir is currently serving as a member on the NFL Engineering Committee and is part of the review committee for the Head Health Tech Challenge.
Dr. Bir has served as lead scientist for Emmy Award Winning Sport Science (ESPN) and has won two Emmys for her work on the show. She has also been seen on Fight Science (National Geographic), Stan Lee Superhmans (History Channel), Curiosity: Plane Crash (Discovery) and The Indestructibles (National Geographic). Recently she led a team to evaluate the contestants for The Titan Games (NBC).
John McPhee, PEng
“The Engineering of Better Athletes and Sports Equipment”
Professor John McPhee is the Canada Research Chair in Biomechatronic System Dynamics at the University of Waterloo. His research team (morg.uwaterloo.ca) develops dynamic models, predictive simulations, machine learning algorithms, and model-based controllers for human-machine systems including sports, exoskeletons, and rehabilitation robots. He is a technical advisor to Golf Digest and Trajekt Sports, and his current and past research collaborators include the Canadian Sports Institute, Major League Baseball, Ping Golf, Cleveland Golf, Curling Canada, the United States Golf Association, Bladetech Hockey, and Fencing Canada.
Matthew Pringle, Ph.D.
“Mission Driven Innovation”
Pringle has been with the USGA since 2000 after completing his doctoral thesis at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Pringle has headed the USGA’s Green Section since 2019, overseeing dramatic growth of the reach and impact of the department. The mission of the Green Section is to help golf course improve their golf experience while reducing the consumption of critical resources such as labor, water, nutrients, pesticides, and energy. In other words, Better turf, for better golf, at lower cost.
Beginning his career in the USGA’s Equipment Standards department, Pringle’s contributions to the USGA include the pendulum test for spring effect in drivers, the USGA TruFirm turf firmness measurement system and co-inventor of the USGA’s GrooveScan portable groove measurement system and the USGA’s GS3 (“The Smartest Ball in Golf”).
Pringle graduated from Queen’s University (1993) in Kingston, Ontario, Canada with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He then joined the consulting engineering firm of Hatch Associates in Toronto, Ontario, Canada prior to pursuing his doctorate.
Matt is married to Dr. Tracy Clarke-Pringle (also a Queen’s and McMaster graduate) a process control expert with Chemours in Wilmington, DE. They have two children, Campbell (age 19) and Reilly (age 17) and live in Pinehurst, NC, the cradle of golf in America.
