Dr. Michelina "Mickey" Witte, a lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology and Sports Sciences at the University of Miami, has been at the forefront of community engagement through her innovative research on promoting active transportation among children. Her focus on encouraging walking, biking, and scooting to school not only addresses the growing issue of childhood obesity but also advocates for safer community spaces.
Dr. Witte's involvement in the Kids Neuroscience Center highlights her commitment to combining research and outreach.
“A big push of what I do in the community outreach realm is to try to get kids to move more and also to advocate for safer spaces...not just a stencil on the ground, but actual protected, separated bike lanes,” Witte said.
Her initiatives include "Bike to School" programs, where children participate in organized biking routes, promoting physical activity as part of their daily routine.
“Active school travel, such as walking, biking, scooting...are ways in which kids can incorporate movement where they’d otherwise be sedentary,” Witte said, regarding extending the effort to her advocacy for safer streets, pushing for protected bike lanes to reduce injuries and fatalities.
Through her community outreach, Dr. Witte and her team also focus on high-risk areas.
“We go to the at-risk communities...and use crash reports to find hotspots where we need to look at, and then we also get data from our trauma center...to see where incidents involving kids and vehicles happen,” Witte said.
Her research explores how biking and walking to school impact children’s mood and energy levels. “
I hope to empower youth to know that they don’t have to be stuck in a way that we think is supposed to be the way...they can challenge the status quo,” Witte said.
Through her work, Witte aims to inspire a shift toward healthier, more active lifestyles, raising awareness of the environmental factors that contribute to sedentary behavior.
“Movement is really mandatory...we have to consciously fight the cues in our environment that tell us we don’t have to be as active,” Witte said.
