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Academic Minors

These exciting academic minors are offered to UMD undergraduate students.

Minor in Biomechanics and Motor Control

Man poses in running form.

The 6-course (16-17 credits) undergraduate minor in Biomechanics and Motor Control provides an opportunity for students to enhance their learning of the study of human movement and the physical and physiological principles upon which it depends, in addition to the influence of growth and development upon human and motor performance.

Prerequisites: Students are required to have BSCI170 and 171: Principles of Molecular & Cellular Biology and either BSCI201: Human Anatomy and Physioogy I or PHYS121: Fundamentals of Physics I (or equivalents) completed; students will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Restrictions: Kinesiology majors are not eligible for this minor.

  • Using tools from physics to understand how and why humans move the way we do
  • The role of mechanical loading in health and human performance

Students are required to complete:

  • One (1) KNES activity course

AND choose five additional courses from the list below:

  • KNES226: The Cybernetic Human (DSNS, SCIS)
  • KNES265: Mathematical, Physical, and Statistical Basis of Kinesiology
  • KNES300: Biomechanics of Human Motion (4 credits)
  • KNES306: Prosthetics for Limb Amputations
  • KNES350: The Psychology of Sports and Exercise (DSHS)
  • KNES370: Motor Development
  • KNES385: Motor Control and Learning (4 credits)
  • KNES402: Biomechanics of Sport
  • KNES462: Neural Basis of Human Movement
  • KNES474: Quantitative Methods in Cognitive Motor Behavior - MATLAB
  • KNES498V:Clinical Biomechanics: Musculoskeletal Injury

Please refer to the schedule of classes for all course prerequisites.


Minor in Exercise Physiology

student on bike pointing to perceived exertion scale

The 6-course (16-17 credits) undergraduate minor in Exercise Physiology provides an opportunity for students to enhance their learning in a broad range of areas, including whole-body and molecular aspects of cardiovascular physiology, metabolism, aging, health, and disease.

Prerequisites: Students are required to have BSCI170 and 171: Principles of Molecular & Cellular Biology, BSCI201: Human Anatomy and Physioogy I and BSCI202: Human Anatomy and Physioogy II (or equivalents) completed; students will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Restrictions: Kinesiology majors are not eligible for this minor.

  • graduate studies in medicine, allied health, and exercise science or physiology
  • pursuing certifications offered by diverse professional societies

Students are required to complete:

  • One (1) KNES activity course

AND choose five additional courses from the list below:

  • KNES260: Science of Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (DSNS or DSSP)
  • KNES282: Basic Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries 
  • KNES289F: Foundations of Food, Physical Activity, & Health
  • KNES320*:Physiological Basis of Physical Activity and Human Health
  • KNES360*: Physiology of Exercise
  • KNES332: Exercise Testing & Prescription for Fitness Professionals
  • KNES350: The Psychology of Sports and Exercise (DSHS)
  • KNES445: Exercise and Brain Health
  • KNES460: Physiology of Aging and the Impact of Physical Activity
  • KNES464: Exercise Metabolism: Role in Health and Disease
  • KNES465: Physical Activity and Disease Prevention and Treatment

*credit only granted for KNES320 or KNES360

Please refer to the schedule of classes for all course prerequisites.


Minor in Sport, Commerce, and Culture

Row of students with green field behind them inside of a stadium.

The 6-course (16-17 credits) undergraduate minor in Sport, Commerce, and Culture provides an opportunity for students to study the structure and experience of contemporary sport culture from an interdisciplinary perspective, informed by research, theories, and methods drawn largely–but not exclusively–from anthropology, cultural studies, economics, gender studies, history, race and ethnic studies, urban studies, and sociology. 

Restrictions: Kinesiology majors are not eligible for this minor.

  • pusuring a profession in the sports industry
  • developing an interdisciplinary understanding of contemporary commercialized sport as a complex social, cultural, political, and economic institution

Students are required to complete:

  • One (1) KNES activity course
  • KNES287: Sport and American Society

AND choose four additional courses from the list below:

  • KNES225: Hoop Dreams: Black Masculinity and Sport (DSHS, SCIS)
  • KNES285: History of Physical Culture, Sport, & Science in America (DSHU, DVUP)
  • KNES289B: Baseball: The National Pastime(?)
  • KNES342: Sport, Commerce, and Culture in the Global Marketplace*
  • KNES346: Sport for Development
  • KNES347: Sport Economics
  • KNES485: Sport and Globalization

*winter term study abroad in Australia

Please refer to the schedule of classes for all course prerequisites.