Birds appear to effortlessly perform maneuvers that are outside the capabilities of our most advanced aircraft. If we could integrate avian maneuverability into UAVs, we could open the door for a new era of flight: one in which flight is not constrained to runways, humans can be transported quickly across large city centers, and disaster … Continued
Wood stores, rather than emit, carbon dioxide. Combining its many economic and environmental benefits, wood provides a unique framework of sustainable materials. Wood is composed of numerous aligned cellulose fibers with hierarchical structure ranging from macroscale to ångström scale, offering immense opportunities across diverse length scales. My long-term goal is to apply fundamental science and … Continued
Minimally-invasive access to the inside of the human body remains a fundamental challenge in medicine, one that is critical in both diagnosis of disease and delivery of therapy. Access and navigation are rendered difficult by the ease with which tissue is damaged, and by the body’s highly tortuous paths and tightly packed structures. In contrast … Continued
The biological world and the engineered world differ in terms of mechanics: human-made machines mostly rely on hard materials, such as metals, while nature makes extensive use of soft materials, with extreme examples like octopus arms. The elegance, adaptability, and efficiency of the designs found in nature inspire the creation of soft machines with unprecedented … Continued
My research is in the area of fluid mechanics. I primarily work in experimental and theoretical studies of turbulence at high Reynolds numbers. This includes studies in atmospheric surface layer flows and aquatic ecosystems.
I perform research in the fields of geotechnical and earthquake engineering. My research is focused on understanding, modeling, evaluating, and mitigating geo-hazards, such as earthquake surface fault rupture, soil liquefaction and its effects on structures, seismic slope instability, earthquake ground motions, seismic site response, soil-foundation-structure interaction, and the dynamic response of earth dams and waste … Continued
I work in the area of bio-inspired engineering. Our group is focused on bio-inspired flexible propulsors for fast, efficient swimming. Inspiration for this work comes from lift-based swimmers, such as batoid rays, tuna, dolphins, and trout. Our team developed the mechanics of active tensegrity structures, and this has been implemented into various swimming platforms to … Continued
I do experimental fluid mechanics, concentrating on wall-bounded flows (boundary layers) and turbulence.