Sports Insight

by Evelyn Lane

The end of the Spring semester means saying goodbye to five RHBSSI interns. These interns helped uphold and spread the RHBSSI mission in various ways, such as through our social media and student-oriented events. They have left a lasting impression on the Institute and shared their insight about their time here. 

Griffin Barfield, Writer/Editor

Griffin Barfield is a junior Communication major and Spanish minor. Alongside interning for the Institute, he is the sports editor of The Tiger, Clemson’s student newspaper. He utilized his skills from this position to highlight Clemson University faculty, staff, students and events that align with the Institute. He skillfully translated the work and stories of the Clemson community into captivating sports science pieces for all audiences to enjoy.

“I’m so happy with how my time with the Institute ended up this semester,” Barfield said. “From forming great connections to connecting with Clemson’s campus more, I’m proud of the work I accomplished here this spring.”

Barfield will be graduating from Clemson in December of 2025. This summer, he plans to go back home and continue improving his writing and editorial skills in New Jersey. 

“I hope to come back to the Institute next fall as a writing intern again, and as for this summer, I’ll be looking at freelance writing for my local publications in New Jersey.”

Evelyn Lane, Communications Lead

Evelyn Lane is a junior Marketing major and Spanish minor. Before interning at RHBSSI, she was a brand strategist and account manager for Cadency, Clemson’s student-led brand agency. She used her knowledge of social media strategies and analytics to aid the Institute in growing its social media presence and maintaining a cohesive brand image. 

“My time with RHBSSI has helped me grow in many different aspects of my life,” Lane said. “I was able to collaborate with people from all different majors and backgrounds; I learned how to be confident in my ideas, and incorporate the ideas of others into the social media plan, and allow everyone to feel heard.”

Lane will stay in Clemson and continue her internship with the Institute this summer.

“I am so excited to continue working with RHBSSI, watching our media presence grow, and figuring out how to utilize each platform to the best of our abilities.”

Natalie Bell, Graphic Designer

Natalie Bell is a graduating senior Graphic Communications major with a minor in Brand Communications. While interning with RHBSSI, she was also Cadency’s creative director. This semester marks the end of her two semesters with the Institute, where she has been able to showcase her creative talent. 

“I have loved my past two semesters with the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute. Since I am a Graphic Communications major and Brand Communications minor, I am not in the sports realm. This internship allowed me to participate in the athletics and research side of Clemson University,” Bell said. “I have gotten to be a part of some fantastic opportunities, such as photographing Clemson’s first Paralympic soccer match and designing mini golf scorecards for our Research Symposium. RHBSSI has made me a more well-rounded graphic designer!”

Bell is graduating this May, and her future endeavors are bright. 

“Upon graduation on May 8, I will be starting my full-time position as a Graphic Designer for FerebeeLane in Greenville, SC.” 

Nicole Souza, Technical Communications Specialist 

Nicole Souza is a graduating senior Bioengineering major. During her time with RHBSSI, she conducted research surrounding Real Madrid NEXT technology partners and utilized her scientific skillset to write blog posts about Clemson’s STEM impacts and CHIP (Clemson Headgear Impact Performance) Lab outcomes. 

“It’s been amazing getting to see all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into not just sports science, but also supporting the University and its students,” Souza said. “My time at RHBSSI taught me a lot about the side of science I had not seen in my classes, like marketing, communication and outreach, and I’m really grateful for that.”

Although Souza is graduating this May, she plans to continue her path as a Tiger through Clemson’s Master’s program. 

“After graduation this May, I’ll be interning at Arthrex as a product management intern, working with orthopedic medical devices and instruments. Even better, I’ll be coming back to Clemson in the fall to start my Master’s of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering. Go Tigers!”

Keeleigh Bush, Events Lead

Keeleigh Bush is a graduating senior Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management major with an emphasis in Tourism and Event Management. She is also the public relations chair for the Clemson Events Planners Association. With this background, she has excelled in planning, coordinating and executing speaker events and campus activations. 

“I had such a great time serving as the Events Intern this semester,” Bush said. “It was incredibly fun and inspiring to work alongside such a talented group of fellow interns.” 

Bush is graduating alongside Souza and Bell this May, and it ecstatic about future opportunities. 

“I’m graduating this spring and currently exploring opportunities—excited for what’s ahead and staying open to new possibilities!”

Whether they are staying in Tiger Town or taking their talents elsewhere, we know our interns will thrive in the face of any challenge and we thank them for their hard work this semester! 

by Griffin Barfield

A former intern at the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute, Katie Gerbasich, a junior Sports Communication major from Houston, TX, has been working closely with various teams and departments through sport, building off of what she learned from the Institute. 

Following her stint in the fall of 2024 with the Institute, Gerbasich is now working with the Baseball Analytics team through Clemson Olympic Sports Science. She works specifically with the hitting team, focusing on scouting and player development from the hitter’s perspective. 

“We have access to a database that stores tons of information from every single play in the game,” Gerbasich said. “It’s our responsibility to take that information, filter out what’s important, and communicate it to our coaching staff.”

Gerbasich and her team also focus on opponents for Clemson Baseball, picking out key information to highlight its opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. From there, she helps communicate this data to the coaching staff for game planning. 

“It’s been super cool to experience the behind-the-scenes of our team and see how our work makes an impact,” she said.

In addition, Gerbasich joined Tiger View Media as a sports writer, covering various Clemson Baseball, Softball and Women’s Lacrosse events over the course of the spring seasons. She also received an opportunity through the media group to cover the Clemson Football spring game, calling it a “highlight moment.”

From her previous experience as an event and writing assistant with the Institute, she feels that her writing skills have been elevated to another level, being able to write a lot more with Tiger View Media. 

“It feels like I’m seemingly able to pump out article after article,” Gerbasich said. “I’m so much more confident now in my abilities now, thanks to the support of the Institute.”

As for the future, Gerbasich will plan to stay with both programs, staying with baseball analytics until baseball season ends this summer. Furthermore, she will continue to work in sports media with Tiger View Media, covering football for the publication in the fall. 

She hopes to graduate early and begin pursuing her Master’s degree in Sports Analytics at Clemson, aspiring to work for a professional team in analytics or communication. 

By Nicole Souza

March is Expanding Girls’ Horizons in Science and Engineering Month, a time to celebrate the achievements of women in STEM and highlight the importance of supportive communities in these fields. While science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) offer incredible opportunities, gender disparities remain, particularly in computer science. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, girls make up 61% of advanced placement (AP) biology students, 52% in AP statistics and 50% in AP chemistry. However, that number drops to just 23% in AP computer science.¹ This gender gap persists beyond primary education, continuing into college and the workforce. Every day, women work to forge their own pathways to success.

Paige Wasiela, a senior computer science student at Clemson University, exemplifies a woman who has found academic and personal support in her field. Through extracurricular involvement and women’s intramural sports, she has thrived in a male-dominated field.

Paige was initially drawn to STEM by its limitless possibilities. “I was inspired to pursue STEM because I saw the opportunities post-grad to contribute to creating something that society, and myself, could benefit from,” she said. 

Her journey has not been without challenges. She found her courses rigorous and, like many women in STEM, initially struggled to build a support system in her male-dominated major.  “The rigor of courses in the STEM fields, computer science specifically, have proven to be very challenging, but by seeking help from TAs [teaching assistants] and professors, I have been able to pass my classes and learn.” 

However, academic support from professors and TAs can only go so far. Finding a community of like-minded individuals became a crucial part of her academic success.

When looking for such a community, Paige found Theta Tau, a co-ed professional engineering organization after receiving a recommendation from a friend. Joining Theta Tau would shape the next three years of her college experience. Through the organization, Paige built lasting friendships, received help in classes from people she would have never met otherwise, and even secured a full-time job that she is passionate about. Theta Tau offered mentorship and support, and as a group that is equally composed of men and women, it provided a close-knit network of like-minded women who shared her academic drive and social interests.

Outside the classroom, Paige excelled in athletics. Her love for basketball led her to join the Theta Tau women’s intramural basketball team. What started as a fun activity quickly became something more meaningful. “Playing together and having fun creates a bond between us that makes us want to get to know each other better outside of the sport and be better friends,” Paige explained. This camaraderie extended into academics. “Getting to know people on the basketball court opens the door to being more comfortable around each other, especially when asking for help on things like academics.”

Mentorship has played a significant role in Paige’s journey. Admiring her teammates on the court often translated to admiration in the classroom and beyond. “When you admire someone’s work on the court, you can easily admire their work in academia, or just in life,” she said. Seeing older members succeed in their coursework provided both inspiration and guidance. Now preparing to graduate, she hopes to pass on an important lesson to younger students: never be afraid to connect with older members of your organization or major. “We’re all students in STEM. We’re all in this together.”

For girls considering a career in STEM, Paige says to “go for it! You never know until you try, and it shouldn’t be something that scares anyone. There’s a community out there for girls in STEM.” 

While statistics show progress in closing the gender gap in many fields, there is still a significant disparity. Building relationships with other women in the field can help overcome challenges and foster success.

Paige’s story is a testament to the power of community, mentorship and support in helping women thrive in STEM. Whether through professional organizations like Theta Tau or the shared experience of sports, finding a network of supportive women can be life changing. As we celebrate Expanding Girls’ Horizons in Science and Engineering Month, let Paige’s journey inspire the next generation of women in STEM.

1. National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies. (2025, February 12). March is Expanding Girls’ Horizons in Science and Engineering Month! National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies. https://niccs.cisa.gov/cybersecurity-career-resources/featured-stories/march-expanding-girls-horizons-science-and  ↩︎

By Griffin Barfield

As the spring semester continues to pick up, so do the actions of the students of Clemson Formula SAE (CUFSAE), who are preparing for important events in April and May. 

CUFSAE is a student race team that focuses on design, fabrication and competition of an open-wheeled, formula style race car. The team competes in the Society of Automotive Engineers student design competition.

In addition to the formulation of a race car, students have to work in all other facets of the racing business, including team management, public relations and sponsor procurement. The Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is proud to sponsor CUFSAE for another year. 

For Clemson’s team, their sights are on the Michigan FSAE Competition in May for the planning and the creation of the racecar, called Tiger 25, where they will race at the Michigan International Speedway. 

Student members of CUFSAE can join five different divisions: aerodynamics, business, chassis, electrical, powertrain and suspension. 

The team lead of the group is Grant Harley, who is studying Electrical and Computer Engineering in his first year of graduate school at Clemson. One of Harley’s main focuses is to keep the team focused on the design timeline for the car. In doing so, he sets weekly meetings with the leadership team and remains in contact with the Department of Mechanical Engineering faculty advisor. 

“The biggest thing I have to do before our car release is make sure the car is following the necessary production timeline and keeping the entire team on the same page about what needs to be done and when it needs to be done,” Harley said. 

A Charleston native, Harley is also a part of the electrical team, where he helps design the brake system plausibility device (BSPD) – a safety component that shuts the car off if the throttle position or brake pressure stop reading. 

“This helps protect the driver in the case of a malfunction in the car and protects the car from dangerous operating procedures,” Harley said. 

Harley works closely with Vehicle Operations Manager, Cameron Boerst, a Mechanical Engineering junior with an Electrical Engineering minor. Boerst’s job focuses on test-day operations, planning when the car will run, whether on or off campus.

“This requires communication and planning between divisions to make sure the rear and front wings are ready, the electronics are working, the powertrain is running, and the suspension is tuned for a day of running,” Boerst said. 

Another Charleston native, Boerst is also designing the drivetrain of the car, which is what he looks forward to the most out of this project.

“The drivetrain is responsible for delivering power from the engine to the hubs of the rear wheels,” Boerst explained. “This includes a lot of CAD modeling in SolidWorks paired with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on the forces experienced by the drivetrain.”

No matter how strong the engine may be, suspension is incredibly important to the car’s success. This is led by fellow junior mechanical engineer and recent Brooks Scholar, Peter Gaspich, an inaugural member of the new class of automotive engineers at Clemson. Gaspich and his team focus on manufacturing and testing of the car’s suspension system ahead of the May event.

“In other words, my goal is to ensure that the driver can get optimal performance from the tires and maximize grip throughout each lap, as maintaining grip to the road is the most essential part of a fast lap time,” Gaspich said. “No matter how powerful the engine is, it won’t be going anywhere very fast if it’s just spinning tires.”

The Greenville native also has one of the most important tasks on race day: constantly studying the car’s responses and making needed changes to the car to help the driver with the ride. 

At this point in the semester, the suspension team is working on manufacturing all of the suspension parts, something that Gaspich heavily takes part in.

“This includes outlining manufacturing plans, training new members on shop equipment, coordinating with sponsors to outsource the manufacturing of more complex components and spending late nights at the shop with my closest friends!” he said. 

With a project as big as designing and building a formula race car, it’s the little steps that count. For Harley, he is most looking forward to seeing the car run on its own for the first time. 

“I am most looking forward to the first time the car runs under its own power,” he said. “It’s an extremely fulfilling moment watching this project that you’ve spent almost a year designing and building culminate into this one moment.”

Every week means the team is one step closer to the first race. With March beginning, it’s crunch time for CUFSAE. The team hopes to see successes similar to, or greater than, last year’s Tiger 24 design.

From Gaspich’s perspective, as well as many others on the team, the opportunity to work on an ongoing project to present it in front of 119 other schools is something that the classroom doesn’t provide. 

“I cannot express enough how important being involved in Formula SAE is to anyone interested in a career in motorsports, or even engineering in-general, as engineering is so much more than what you learn in the classroom,” Gaspich said. 

Whether participating as a passion project or looking for experience for a future job in the motorsports industry, all eyes look to May where Tiger 25 will be racing on asphalt that has hosted NASCAR and IndyCar events.