Position: Engineering and biomechanics tutor, Ara Institute of Canterbury.
Field: Sports engineering, track cycling aerodynamics1, aerodynamics of high-performance sports, biomechanics.
Lindsey Underwood (also known as Lindsey Alton) moved from the UK to New Zealand in 2008 to begin her PhD2 in mechanical engineering3 (track cycling aerodynamics) at Canterbury University. She now works at Ara Institute of Canterbury and also helps some of New Zealand’s top cyclists prepare for major international competitions. Her work combines both her passion for sport and engineering.
Background
Lindsey grew up just south of Birmingham, UK. She loved physics and mathematics at school and went on to the University of Birmingham where she completed a master’s degree studying mechanical engineering and business management.
Lindsey’s passion for sports and the opportunity to come to New Zealand to do a PhD in sports engineering made her follow the sports engineering route.
She’d also heard how beautiful the country was and how many opportunities there were for people like her who enjoy sports and the outdoors.
Research
One of the aims of Lindsey’s PhD was to look at optimal positions and equipment for cyclists to reduce their aerodynamic drag. Part of this work was creating new cycle helmets using 3D printers4 to test new helmet designs aimed at reducing aerodynamic drag5. The researchers used the Canterbury University wind tunnel to analyse airflow and drag6 as high-speed wind moves over cyclists. She also developed a model to predict finishing times for track cyclists so that they can work out the ideal power7 strategy to win races.
In 2010, she was awarded the prestigious Prime Minister’s Scholarship to work with BikeNZ to help some of New Zealand’s top cyclists prepare for the 2012 Olympic Games, and she visited the impressive wind tunnel facilities at the San Diego Air and Space Technology Centre.
I think scientists everywhere are pretty much the same – they are passionate about finding out how and why things work and will not stop until that problem is solved.
Interests
What impresses Lindsey most about New Zealand is that there is so much to do within such a small distance, and she says the laid-back attitude8 to life here suits her.
Lindsey loves tramping and tries to go somewhere most weekends. She has been rock climbing since December 2009 and also enjoys running.
She plays squash in the winter and has converted herself from a snowboarder to a skier so she go back-country skiing.
Lindsey isn’t really a cyclist as such, but she enjoys cycling around Christchurch as her preferred means of transport. She enjoys mountain biking when she gets time, but she has only been on a track bike in a velodrome once when the New Zealand track coaches made her have a turn, which she enjoyed.
In the future, Lindsey thinks she would like to be a test engineer for outdoor equipment and/or high-speed sports equipment in general.
Update
After completing her PhD in 2012, Lindsey joined the Ara Institute of Canterbury (previously Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT)) as a tutor in Engineering and Biomechanics.
2014 research
One of Lindsey's projects is working on determining the physical demands of kī-o-rahi, a fast-paced traditional Māori ball game. GPS9 units and heart rate monitors are being used to collect data10 on players’ heart rates, distance and speeds to analyse their movement patterns to help establish successful performance profiles for the game. The goal is to assist coaches and players to implement appropriate training strategies for competition.
This article was updated in January 2025.
Related content
In this issue of Connected, Beating the wind is about cycling aerodynamics and features both Lindsey and Science Learning Hub resources.
Read more about Lindsays research:
Activity idea
In Investigating airflow over shapes students observe airflow over various shapes to find out which shape is likely to produce the least aerodynamic drag.
Useful link
Read Lindsay's academic profile on Ara Institute of Canterbury website.
Cycling New Zealand is New Zealand's national sporting federation.
- aerodynamics : The study of how air flows over and through objects and the forces generated by the flow.
- PhD: Abbreviation of Doctor of Philosophy – a degree normally obtained after a concentrated period of research. This is the highest level of degree that involves supervision by academic staff at a university.
- mechanical engineering: A branch of engineering that deals with the design, construction and operation of machinery.
- 3D printer: A machine that makes a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model.
- aerodynamic drag: The force that acts against the motion of an object as it moves through the air. Also known as wind resistance or air resistance.
- drag: Sometimes called air resistance or fluid resistance, drag refers to forces that oppose the relative motion of an object through a fluid (a liquid or gas).
- power: 1. The rate at which work is done (defined as work divided by time taken). 2. Mechanical or physical energy, force or momentum.
- attitude: The attitude (or orientation) of a satellite is the angle it makes in relation to some reference direction or point in space. To determine its attitude, a satellite usually uses a special optical sensor to locate a known visible object or pattern and measures its angle to it. Reference objects or patterns are the Sun, the Earth’s horizon or a particular combination of stars.
- GPS: Global positioning system. Uses satellites, computers and receivers to determine the exact position of a receiver on Earth by calculating the time difference for signals from different satellites to reach the receiver.
- data: The unprocessed information we analyse to gain knowledge.
