Trailblazing in Sport Project
Performance in and analysis of sports continually advances. BIOS attends to research on how athletes, teams, and organizations blaze new trails in their fields. Three areas are of particular interest to us. First, we examine how teams and organizations can apply mathematical principles to their work. This includes the leveraging of data at multiple levels. How and to what extent can data analytics be integrated into the core work of teams and organizations?
Second, we consider research on innovation, including new technologies and tools in sport and organizational performance. What works and what do we know about effective adaptation?
Third, BIOS examines opportunity in and through sports through data science. Who plays sports…and why and how can data science tell us about the major trends in sport? We draw from and extend research on youth and college sports and geographies of sport opportunity through data science and statistical measures to contribute to deeper understandings of how we can understand the various trends in sport.
Finally, we look deeply into sport-specific data. We work in concert with coaches and athletes to understand the big questions in their games so that, as much as possible, their decisions and strategies can be rooted in evidence.
Register: 2026 BIOS Leadership & Coaching Symposium
Save the date — the 5th Annual BIOS Leadership & Coaching Symposium is June 23, 2026 at Camp Randall Stadium. This year’s theme: Building Culture and Developing Your People.
UW BIOS Featured in School of Education and On Wisconsin Magazines
BIOS was featured in the UW School of Education and On Wisconsin magazines — a look at our groundbreaking research on the science of leadership in sport.
Senegal Basketball Academies
In conjunction with HoopsHome, a nonprofit organization aimed at supporting international basketball athletes as they make the transition to the U.S., we explored the varied functions of basketball-centric academies throughout Senegal
How division I women’s ice hockey coaches facilitate social capital
BIOS researcher Landry Levinson’s dissertation examines how Division I women’s ice hockey coaches facilitate social capital and how the bonding and bridging relationships they foster can support student-athletes on and off the ice
International College Basketball Migration Trends
This study examines the growth of international student-athletes in NCAA Division 1 men’s and women’s basketball in the last decade, an era marked by significant structural shifts in college athletics.