Benjamin Powers graduated from the University of New Hampshire in May, 2004, with a BS in Psychology. It was partly his experience as captain of the UNH lacrosse team that motivated his study of the effectiveness of the eye black so widely used in the athletic world. Powers took issue with an existing study of eye black use because he saw in it two problems which he wanted to correct. He conducted his research with Professor Kenneth Fuld. Finding subjects and coordinating outdoor experiments with the weather sometimes proved difficult, but Powers and Fuld pushed hard to get a good final product, accomplishing their goal of getting into print an amended study of the effectiveness of athlete’s eye black. Powers has since entered the world of finance and is living on Beacon Hill in Boston.
Kenneth Fuld is chair of the Department of Psychology and has been a professor at the University of New Hampshire for twenty-six years. His area of expertise is sensation and perception, primarily dealing with vision. He has mentored several undergraduate research projects during his tenure at UNH. Fuld advised all phases of this project, including a presentation at the department’s annual Haslerud Research Conference. Watching his student grow intellectually and seeing the possibility of further research on this topic proved to be the most rewarding aspect for Professor Fuld. While he admits that there are always problems and unexpected complications with any research project, he points out, “That is part of the experience for students to gain. They see first-hand how difficult and time-consuming research is. I hope they also see how rewarding it can be.”
Read Benjamin Powers’ research article, Why Do Athletes Use Eye Black? >>
