Brewer’s cycling career started at age 15 in North Carolina with a triathlon – or rather, holding water for triathletes when her soccer team volunteered at a water station. So inspired, she started training for triathlons but quickly learned cycling was her favorite.
She raced at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, then headed to the University of Colorado Boulder on a cycling scholarship to obtain her master’s degree until the pandemic stopped her momentum. In Boulder, she worked with professional cyclists, including Iñigo San Millán, former coach of two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar.
“It’s a very fast-paced environment, and I thrived there,” Brewer said of Boulder. “Everybody is unapologetic about their pursuit to win. And that’s what I’ve seen at UF, too. When we talk to coaches, they want to win championships. That’s the goal.”
Brewer transferred to UF, where she finished her master’s degree in applied physiology and kinesiology. Her Ph.D. will be in human-centered computing led by Kristy Boyer, Ph.D.
“We have to remember the human part of human performance,” Brewer said. “It’s about giving good experiences to high-level cyclists or student-athletes because we have a responsibility with staff to help them reach the highest level of their sport and their goals – but do it in that holistic, long-term way that always keeps the athlete in mind. When the athlete is happy and healthy, that’s when they succeed.”
Brewer recently returned from the Netherlands, where she was working as a staff assistant with the Silicon Valley Cycling Foundation’s European Cycling Academy, which brings North American female cyclists to the Netherlands to race and improve their skills. Brewer does not compete in races much these days, but she stays immersed in cycling by helping other racers.
“Coming to Florida, the trails have been calling my name,” Brewer said, noting that her favorite bike trail is in Santos, just south of Ocala.
“In my own experience,” she said of her research with the AI-Powered Athletics, “there is a plethora of data and performance metrics in wearable technologies, and in all the bike sensors – even in all the collegiate sports – we now have wearable technology. Everybody’s getting it on their watches, but there’s a lack of integration and understanding and misinterpretation.”
“We have to remember the human part of human performance.”
Mollie Brewer, UF Ph.D. Student in human-centered computing
Elite athletes have experts to help them use this technology correctly, Brewer said, while there is not much guidance for advanced amateurs.
“One of the biggest obstacles we face with athletes is compliance – wearing it correctly, wearing it continuously,” Brewer said. “Can I help in those areas? Can I make data collection easier? Can I make analysis easier for coaches and athletes? Can I make data understanding better? The last one, which I think is most important, is can I make sure the human element is never forgotten?”
Brewer feels the greatest innovations happen when “minds from different domains” come together. She praised the UF & Sport Collaborative’s team, particularly Nichols (biomedical); Kevin Butler, Ph.D. (cybersecurity); Boyer, (human-centered computing); Spencer (performance testing and analytics); Garrett Beatty, Ph.D. (applied physiology and kinesiology); and Daniel Ferris, Ph.D. (biomechanics).
When Brewer is not conducting research and working with this team, and when she is not in a lab or on a trail, she loves to bake sourdough bread, read research papers, travel, and revel in new cultural trappings. For example, she now puts sprinkles on her bread every morning thanks to eating Dutch “fairy bread.”
Also of note: She never planned to obtain her Ph.D. “If you had told me a year ago that I was going to be getting my Ph.D. in Florida, I would have told you, ‘Absolutely not. You’re crazy,’” she said. “And here I am, and it is nice that I get paid to read research papers.”
Now she is in the throes of one of UF’s most visible research initiatives and considering the wide-open possibilities of AI and athletics.
“I think it can uncover patterns and possibilities that maybe you and I couldn’t quite detect on our own,” she said. “You still need the human element to decide whether it is worth implementing or not. It can provide an additional avenue of understanding for complex situations and patterns that just may not be as evident to the human eye. It may also reduce redundancies or speed up analytic time. In a professional, high-paying sport, being able to do things faster is always better.”