Elaine Choung-Hee Lee, professor of kinesiology in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR), has been inducted as a member of this year’s fellows to the National Academy of Kinesiology.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to be inducted as an NAK Fellow,” Lee says. “This recognition is a huge personal milestone, especially as a woman and mother working through all the challenges and obstacles that come during the academic career of a tenured faculty. I am so grateful and hope I continue to model the science, leadership, and mentoring that this award honors.”
The NAK is a member-based organization composed of elected fellows who have made sustained and distinguished contributions to the discipline.
The Academy’s dual purpose is to encourage and promote the study and educational applications of the art and science of human movement and physical activity and to honor by election to its membership persons who have directly or indirectly contributed significantly to the study of and/or application of the art and science of human movement and physical activity, according to their website.
Lee is the director of the Human Performance Lab and a senior research advisor for UConn’s Korey Stringer Institute (KSI).
Lee’s research focuses on heat adaptation and recovery during exercise in the heat. The aim of her work is to identify biomarkers and cellular mechanisms associated with these stressors to develop better protocols to protect human health and performance in these conditions.
In 2024, Lee received a $17.7 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a non-invasive technology that can provide objective biometric measures of heat acclimation.
She has also worked on the importance of accounting for sex-based differences in setting thresholds for heat tolerance, and the importance of hydration for sleep.
Lee received all three of her degrees at UConn, with her dissertation on acute exercise and environmental stress and recovery in the Department of Kinesiology. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Yale University School of Medicine and the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory before joining the UConn faculty in the Department of Kinesiology in 2012.
This work relates to CAHNR’s Strategic Vision area focused on Enhancing Health and Well-Being Locally, Nationally, and Globally.
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