Fort Worth’s Texas Christian University launched the Roach Institute of Athlete Engineering on Tuesday with an event at the Legends Club at Amon G. Carter Stadium. The interdisciplinary institute will study how athletes, military personnel, and workers in physically demanding jobs “train, perform, and recover in high-pressure environments,” TCU said. The institute is being funded by a $10 million gift from The Roach Foundation of Fort Worth.
The launch was announced by Chancellor Daniel W. Pullin at TCU’s inaugural Global Human Performance Forum, which brought together researchers, industry leaders, and practitioners to discuss the future of human performance research.
Pullin said the launch—made possible by the generosity of The Roach Foundation and multigenerational support by the Roach, Bailey, and Davis families—”positions TCU on the leading edge of human performance research, producing outcomes that will deeply benefit our student-athletes and others in roles that extend health and safety beyond the playing field.”
“The new institute has been developed by industry-leading experts, ensuring TCU maintains its place as an innovative leader among the nation’s power conference schools,” the chancellor added in a statement. “We’ve have seen record investment in our student-athletes’ health and wellness with donor-funded, state-of-the-art strength and recovery facilities that utilize technology and personal attention to improve and protect. TCU’s Roach Institute of Athlete Engineering brings these elements together to study, scale, and replicate elite performance.”
Advancing the discipline of Athlete Engineering
The institute will advance the practice of Athlete Engineering, a discipline founded by Reuben F. Burch V, TCU’s vice provost for research. The discipline revolves around the belief that performance is “shaped less by the individual than by the surrounding system, including the interaction of people, technology, environments, teams and systems,” TCU said.
“Most universities have athletics, and many universities have research, but few intentionally bring those worlds together,” Burch said in a statement. “We view athletes as people first and believe the lessons we learn through research can improve lives far beyond the playing field.”
The discipline applies to both traditional athletes and “tactical athletes” including military personnel, first responders, and “industrial athletes” in fields as varied as manufacturing, construction, transportation and logistics. Insights developed in one area can improve outcomes in another, TCU noted.
Burch developed Athlete Engineering over more than a decade at Mississippi State University before joining TCU in 2025, the university said. TCU officials said the university’s mix of major athletics programs, a growing research enterprise, and a prime location in DFW’s nation-leading sports market all position it to become “the national home for the field.”
A hub for research, tech development, and collaboration
The institute will serve as a hub for research, technology development, and cross-disciplinary collaboration—all aimed at helping people perform safely and effectively in demanding settings.
The institute’s director will be Jim Weinstein, Ph.D., RD, CSSD, FAND, a nutrition scientist and board-certified sports dietitian who retired as a colonel after a 28-year Air Force career and most recently served as deputy director of Athlete Engineering at Mississippi State.
Weinstein’s leadership team includes associate director Zachary M. Gillen, an associate professor of kinesiology; chief athlete liaison Spencer Tatum; performance science lead Michael Mydlo; and engineering research lead Anna Grace Dill.
$10M gift continues six-decade bond with Roach family
The Roach Foundation’s $10 million gift continues a more than six-decade relationship between the Roach family and TCU.
Amy Roach Bailey ’89, a TCU trustee and chair of the board’s Academic Affairs Committee, said in a statement that the new institute “will enrich the student experience at TCU with more opportunities for meaningful applied research and discovery in a field that expands the boundaries of human performance.”
The foundation’s gift will support research, faculty recruitment, student opportunities, and industry partnerships, TCU said—while also advancing the interdisciplinary research goals of TCU’s LEAD ON: Values in Action strategic plan and the university’s effort to reach Carnegie Research 1 status by 2035.
Chancellor Pullin said the institute is an extension of other recent TCU investments in student health and wellness, including donor-funded strength and recovery facilities, and aims to “study, scale, and replicate elite performance.”
Provost Floyd L. Wormley Jr. called the institute “another giant step forward for TCU,” and said it will pair faculty research with practical application while working alongside the university’s broader research initiatives to benefit students and industry partners.
More on the Roach Foundation
Established in 1999 and based in Fort Worth, The Roach Foundation is a private philanthropic organization whose mission is to support initiatives that align with its focus areas of education, arts and culture, and youth and social services, including health and medical care of children, contributing to the betterment of communities through strategic funding and support. The foundation is led by Jean W. Roach as president, Amy Roach Bailey as treasurer, Lori Roach Davis as secretary and Thomas Elliston as executive director.
Don’t miss what’s next. Subscribe to Dallas Innovates.
Track Dallas-Fort Worth’s business and innovation landscape with our curated news in your inbox Tuesday-Thursday.
R E A D N E X T
-
The foundation said it will invest "a minimum of $1 million" to help close the manufacturing skills gap in Dallas, which it called "an aerospace hub where the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts some of the strongest demand for advanced manufacturing labor."
-
For more than 85 years, Southwestern Medical Foundation has been an impact-driven public charity focused on building a sustainable funding source for innovative research, best-in-class medical education, and the highest standard of care at UT Southwestern Medical Center and its related institutions, the nonprofit said.
-
"Langan's growth in Texas and beyond is impressive," Kirkman Co-Founder Shea Kirkman said, "and we look forward to collaborating on some of the largest most complex projects in the DFW Metroplex."
-
Since joining the nonprofit in 2015, Dawn Townsend has played a pivotal role in advancing the organization's mission and visibility, originally leading its marketing and communications efforts, the foundation said.
-
When Culhane wasn't cracking books at TCU, he was cracking jokes in the student comedy group Senseless Acts of Comedy and collaborating on improv and sketches with the university's Student Film Association. Then came a call from "SNL."
-
Most recently, 70-year-old Futuramic's aerospace tooling supported Artemis III core stage integration at the Kennedy Space Center, another step in NASA's bid to return astronauts to the Moon's surface.
-
The funding consists of two $1 million grants to the Child Poverty Action Lab and to the Parkland Health Foundation. Each organization will receive $250,000 annually over the next four years to provide solutions and clinical care in underserved communities.
