TUCSON, Ariz. – The University of Arizona tandem of Dr. Amy B. Athey and Dr. Michael Grandner have been awarded an NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice grant, the organization announced on Tuesday. Athey and Grandner are one of four research teams across the country that will receive funding to perform studies designed to enhance student-athletes’ psychosocial well-being and mental health. The Arizona team will focus on promoting healthy sleep and circadian rhythms in student-athletes.
As part of this project, Dr. Athey and Dr. Grandner will study how student-athletes sleep, and how their sleep is related to their levels of stress, social interactions, and physical and mental well-being. They will then take a subset of those students and enroll them in a program that will attempt to help them get better sleep at night by helping to solve sleep problems. This program will also test whether adding sleep-tracking technology and special lighting can help improve sleep and boost mental well-being.
The NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant Program is aimed at funding projects that will bring tangible benefits to college athletes when used by individuals or by NCAA member schools’ athletics departments. This year’s grant recipients will produce work that touches a wide range of areas, including sleep health, parental involvement, body image issues and the transition from college athlete to a working life outside sports.
A panel that reviewed the 99 applicants and selected the four grant awardees was composed of NCAA Research Committee members, practitioners, current student-athletes and scholars representing all three NCAA divisions. The committee, which funded grants in amounts ranging from $10,000 to $39,500, hopes the research will lead to programs that other colleges and universities can adopt for use on their campuses or adapt to fit their local needs.
Dr. Athey is the Director of Clinical and Sport Psychology Services for Arizona Athletics. She offers clinical and sport psychology services to over 500 student-athletes at UA and consults with numerous sport programs. She has worked for over 15 years providing clinical care, crisis intervention, and performance consultation for collegiate, Olympic, and professional athletes, coaching staff, medical staff, and administration. Dr. Athey has published research and presented at international and national conferences on crisis intervention in sport, competency as sport psychology providers, and ethical/cultural issues in sport. She earned a doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Loyola College in Maryland and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in university departments of kinesiology and psychology, respectively.
Dr. Grandner is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and Director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified in Behavioral Sleep Medicine by the American Board of Sleep Medicine. As a scientist and educator, his research focuses on real-world applications of sleep and health, including studying how insufficient sleep and poor sleep quality are related to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cognitive function, as well as the social, behavioral, and environmental determinants of sleep, including sleep and socioeconomics, racial disparities in sleep, and the relationship between sleep and work schedules. He has over 75 publications in academic journals and is Associate Editor of the journal Sleep Health. Dr. Grandner received his BA in Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology from the University of Rochester, MS in Clinical Psychology from San Diego State University, PhD in Clinical Psychology from the joint doctoral program at San Diego State University and University of California, San Diego, and a Master’s degree in Translational Research from the University of Pennsylvania.
This is the third year of the NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant Program. The team from Arizona, along with teams from Utah State, North Carolina at Greensboro, and West Virginia, will present their findings in January at the NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tenn.
