While you may be watching the Olympics for its inspiring feats and heart-pounding finishes, Stanford postdoctoral scholar Jennifer Maier is seeing them through a different lens, especially when it comes to volleyball.

Maier, who holds a PhD from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, came to Stanford to work with professors Ellen Kuhl and Scott Delp as part of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance’s Digital Athlete project. Her work focuses on advancing personalized human performance modeling, particularly when hitting a volleyball. By innovating new tools in musculoskeletal modeling and simulation, Maier is unraveling the intricate anatomy and mechanics underlying volleyball hitting. Her research aims to help volleyball players – and athletes in general – optimize their performance while minimizing the risk of injury.

A seasoned volleyball athlete herself, Maier has been playing for over 20 years. Her passion for the sport fuels her dedication to helping others enhance their game and protect their bodies from the wear and tear of high-performance athletics.