Jane E. Clark, PhD, is a professor in the department of kinesiology and the neuroscience and cognitive sciences program at the University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Clark earned her bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from SUNY–Brockport, her master’s degree in physical education from the University of Washington, and her PhD in motor development from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She has coedited 7 texts in motor development and authored or coauthored 25 book chapters and 68 refereed journal publications. Her articles have appeared in such journals as Journal of Motor Behavior, Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Neurophysiology, Infant Behavior & Development, Journal of Gerontology, Motor Control, Neuroscience Letters, Human Movement Science, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, Research in Developmental Disabilities, and Quest. She has also presented over 300 scientific papers at national and international conferences and universities.

Dr. Clark is an active member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD). She has served as the secretary and the president of the Research Consortium of AAHPERD and chair of the Motor Development Academy of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). She has been honored by the Eastern District as their Outstanding Teacher in the College Division (1988) and as their Scholar Lecturer (1995) and by the Research Consortium as the McCloy Lecturer (1995). In 2001, Dr. Clark chaired the NASPE Task Force on Guidelines for Infant and Preschool Physical Activity (Active Start). In 2007, she was honored as the Alliance Scholar of AAHPERD.

A past president of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity, Dr. Clark has been an active member of several other professional organizations dedicated to the study of motor development, including the International Society for Research into Developmental Coordination Disorder and the International Society on Infant Studies.

In 1993, Dr. Clark was elected fellow of the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education (recently renamed the National Academy of Kinesiology), a society limited to 150 active scholars in the field of kinesiology. In 2006, she was elected president of the academy. Her research focuses on the developing relationship between perception and action in infants and young children. She also studies children with motor coordination problems. The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have funded her research for the last decade.

She has been honored with the Alumni Achievement Award by the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin and with the Hall of Heritage Award from the Brockport Alumni Association.