Rate My Professor Cory Butts

Cory Butts serves as Teaching Assistant Professor of Exercise Science in the Department of Health, Human Performance, and Recreation at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, a position he assumed in fall 2023. His academic career at the university began earlier as a Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant from 2014 to 2018, during which he contributed to research in the Exercise Science Research Center, provided methodological and statistical support to students, and taught undergraduate kinesiology courses. Butts holds a Ph.D. in Kinesiology with an Exercise Science emphasis from the University of Arkansas (2018), with a dissertation titled "Dehydration, Muscle Damage, and Exercise in the Heat: Impacts on Renal Stress, Thermoregulation, and Muscular Damage Recovery." He earned an M.S. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Texas at Arlington (2013) and a B.S. in Exercise Science from Colorado State University-Pueblo (2011), along with a Graduate Certificate in Educational Statistics and Research Methods from the University of Arkansas. Prior professional experience includes service as a Health Care Specialist and Combat Medic in the Army National Guard from 2008 to 2014, where he provided medical treatment and supervised soldiers.

Butts specializes in exercise physiology, with research centered on hydration status, heat stress, cooling interventions, and their physiological impacts during exercise. His work addresses athlete safety, military applications, and occupational performance in hot environments. Key publications include "Cooling effectiveness of a modified cold-water immersion method after exercise-induced hyperthermia" (Journal of Athletic Training, 2016), "Physiological and perceptual effects of a cooling garment during simulated industrial work in the heat" (Applied Ergonomics, 2017), "Renal stress and kidney injury biomarkers in response to endurance cycling in the heat with and without ibuprofen" (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2018), "Physiologic and perceptual responses to cold-shower cooling after exercise-induced hyperthermia" (Journal of Athletic Training, 2016), and "Effectiveness of ice-sheet cooling following exertional hyperthermia" (Military Medicine, 2017). He participated in research teams studying hydration at the Boston Marathon and innovative cooling methods like tarp-assisted ice-sheet cooling for heat stroke. Butts serves on the University of Arkansas Undergraduate Council (2023-2026) and has presented research on hydration and neurocognitive effects of hypohydration.