Graduate Assistant

Emma Chance is a doctoral student in the Clinical Applications of Rest and Exercise (CARE) Lab under the mentorship of Clinical Associate Professor Sarah Fretti and Clinical Associate Professor Caitlin Cheruka. Her research focuses on the intersection of sleep, exercise, and cardiovascular health, with broader interests in how lifestyle and behavioral strategies can improve health and well-being in special populations. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in kinesiology from UCF, with a specialization in clinical exercise physiology. She was awarded the UCF Mentorship Fellowship to conduct research examining the effects of yoga interventions on sleep and cardiovascular health in adults with insomnia. Her long-term goals are to bridge research and clinical practice to advance evidence-based exercise prescriptions that promote health and well-being across clinical populations and older adults. Chance has also worked as an adjunct instructor at UCF, teaching undergraduate courses including Assessments and Evaluation in Kinesiology and the undergraduate internship course. Outside of teaching and research, she enjoys working out and spoiling her cat, Gator.