Trainees

Current Trainees

Marc Badger, Integrative Biology
Erin Brandt, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Nicholas Burnett, Integrative Biology
Margaret Byron, Mechanical Engineering
Carlos Casarez, Mechanical Engineering
Sofia Chang, Integrative Biology
Evan Chang-Siu, Mechanical Engineering
Trevor Dolinajec, Biophysics Graduate Group
Dennis Evangelista, Integrative Biology
Duncan Haldane, Mechanical Engineering
Nate Hunt, Integrative Biology
Woody Hoburg, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Cherub Kim, Mechanical Engineering
Erica Kim, Biophysics Graduate Group
Nick Kohut, Integrative Biology
Jessica Lee, Mechanical Engineering
Leeann Louis, Integrative Biology
Michael McKinley, Mechanical Engineering
Stephen McKinley, Mechanical Engineering
Jean-Michel Mongeau, Biophysics Graduate Group
Jasmine Nirody, Biophysics Graduate Group
Carlos Oroza, Civil Engineering
Elias Patten, Mechanical Engineering
Cameron Rose, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Victor Shia, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Dwight Springthorpe, Integrative Biology
Ian Tse, Civil Engineering
Lindsay Waldrop, Integrative Biology

Marc Badger
Integrative Biology
E-mail: mbadger[at]hmc.edu
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am interested in how morphology allows organisms to perform as well as they do, and in using details of locomotion to illuminate their behavior and ecology. I am also interested in how organisms search the space of possible body configurations when solving physically challenging problems.
Full Bio and Research Description
Nicholas Burnett
Integrative Biology
E-mail: burnettnp[at]gmail.com
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am interested in the behavior of animals in extreme flow environments, such as the rocky intertidal zone. In particular, I am interested in the mechanical limitations of animal behavior in these conditions and the consequences these limitations have on the energetics and structure of the surrounding biotic community.

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Margaret Byron
Civil/Environmental Engineering
E-mail: mbyron[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I'm curious about turbulence, navigation, and the functional morphology of fish-- and the coupling between all of those things. In particular, I'm interested in the intermediate scales of turbulence, and the organisms that navigate flows in which they are alternately nektonic and planktonic. These animals' compromises between speed and maneuverability, and their adaptations to their unique environments, hold some of the keys to the development of efficient and effective autonomous underwater vehicles.
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Sofia Chang
Integrative Biology
E-mail: swchang[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am interested in the evasive behavior of insects capable of flight. Specifically, my research involves understanding the insect's adaptations, such as morphology, behavior and ecological context, which allow them to perform successful escapes. I study their jumping and flying performances under different environmental conditions.
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Evan Chang-Siu
Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: evancs[at]gmail.com
Primary Focus Area: Control
Research Interests: My research focuses on bio-inspired Mechatronics and robotics. Specifically I am interested in posture control of terrestrial locomotive robots through inertial methods.
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Trevor Dolinajec
Biophysics
E-mail: dolinajec[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Evolution
Research Interests: I'm interested in the biomechanics and aerodynamics of fungal spores. Specifically, the conditions under which pathogenic fungal spores attach and remain attached to animal hosts.

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Dennis Evangelista
Integrative Biology
E-mail: devangel[at]berkeley.edu
Website: http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/koehl/stud/dennis.html
Primary Focus Area: Evolution
Research Interests: I am interested in flight and swimming, gliding and parachuting, maneuvering and control; transitions through free surfaces, jumping, launching and landing, impact; agility, disturbance, control and turbulence, and interactions between flow and structures. I am also interested in the biomechanics of movements in plants.
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Duncan Haldane
Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: dhaldane[at]berkeley.edu
Website: http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/koehl/stud/dennis.html
Primary Focus Area: Materials
Research Interests: My research focuses on the design of bio-inspired millirobots, exploring topics in dynamic similarity, passive stability and agile locomotion. Specifically I am interested in robust and high-speed animal adaptions in terrestrial locomotion, and locomotion in highly constrained environments.
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Woody Hoburg
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
E-mail: whoburg[at]berkeley.edu
Website: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~whoburg/
Primary Focus Area: Control
Research Interests: My research focuses on control, system identification, and learning.
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Nate Hunt
Integrative Biology
E-mail: nathaniel.hunt[at]berkeley.edu
Research Interests: I am interested in using a dynamical systems framework to understand movement in biological and engineered systems. Specifically, I would like to investigate how neural, mechanical, and environmental systems interact in a way that leads to functional legged locomotion.
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Cherub Kim
Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: ckim88[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Materials
Research Interests: I am interested in studying the mechanics of animal motion, specifically the action of muscles as non-linear springs in the realization of diverse animal motion. With this knowledge, I hope to build upon current springs to develop non-linear spring systems for mechanical systems.
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Erica Kim
Biophysics Graduate Group
E-mail: e.kim[at]berkeley.edu
Website: http://web.me.com/ricaekim
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am interested in the evolution and biomechanics of flight in Trochilidae (hummingbirds). Understanding how such agile and extreme birds control, maneuver, and adapt, in particular, may lead to novel, bio-inspired designs.
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Nick Kohut
Integrative Biology
E-mail: kohut[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am interested in small, legged robots and their intersection with controls, dynamics, and biology. I am currently developing an active tail to execute rapid turning of a robot while running over terrain.
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Jessica Lee
Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: jessica.lee[at]pacbell.net
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am fascinated by animal locomotion and plan to research and design bio-inspired robots. Specifically, I would like to investigate the movements of an octopus and apply it to the field of soft robotics.
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Leeann Louis
Integrative Biology
E-mail: llouis[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am interested in the physiological and biomechanical implications of how organisms endure environmental stresses. Specifically, I am curious about birds and how they manage to fly or otherwise move around under extremes of temperature, wind, and other challenges.
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Michael McKinley
Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: mckgyver[at]gmail.com
Website: http://mckgyver.pbworks.com/
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: My research focuses on Mechatronics, Assistive Robotics, Human Machine Interaction, Bio-inspired Design.
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Stephen McKinley
Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: mckinley[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am fascinated by how legged organisms, specifically humans, interact and maneuver through their environment. My research focuses on restoring bipedal locomotion to paraplegics
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Jean-Michel Mongeau
Biophysics Graduate Group
E-mail: jmmongeau[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Materials
Research Interests: I’m interested in neuromechanical principles that can help us understand how animals maneuver stably in natural environments. I use techniques in biomechanics and neurobiology to experimentally test hypotheses within an engineering framework and to inform the development of bio-inspired electromechanical systems.
Full Bio and Research Description
Jasmine Nirody
Biophysics Graduate Group
E-mail: jnirody[at]berkeley.edu
Website: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~jnirody/
Primary Focus Area: Control
Research Interests: My research involves dynamical systems and their applications. Particularly, I am interested in using mathematical models in conjunction with experimental data to study problems in biology and mechanics.
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Carlos Oroza
Civil Engineering
E-mail: coroza[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: I am interested in the design of robotic sensors which operate in dynamic environments. I am specifically interested in the design and control of aquatic-sensor robots which must collaborate to gather data about a system which is more powerful than they are.
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Elias Patten
Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: epatten[at]me.berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Materials
Research Interests: I study the tribological, fatigue, and strength properties of materials used in medical implants. Specifically, I have been looking at how polymers used in hip and knee implants wear and am currently designing and building a custom wear-testing machine. I am also interested in studying natural systems as inspiration for engineering solutions and researching practical solutions for sustainable, climate-friendly energy.
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Victor Shia
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
E-mail: vshia[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Control
Research Interests: I am interested in multi-agent control of micro-robots and bio-inspired robotics, and wireless sensor networks for search and rescue and health-care purposes.
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Dwight Springthorpe
Integrative Biology
E-mail: dspringthorpe[at[berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Control
Research Interests: I am interested in how and why an animal transitions between its various control schemes. I am also interested in how these transitions relate to the neural and mechanical properties of that organism.
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Ian Tse
Civil and Environmental Engineering
E-mail: ian.tse[at]berkeley.edu
Primary Focus Area: Mechanics
Research Interests: My research interests focus on the physics of fluids in the natural environment and, recently, the interplay between fluid dynamics and biology. I am particularly interested in the physics of turbulence as it relates to the fate and transport of sediments, contaminants, and aquatic organisms that must navigate highly turbulent flows. I aim to design and utilize robust quantitative imaging techniques to experimentally quantify these complicated transport processes.
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Lindsay Waldrop
Integrative Biology
E-mail: lwaldrop[at]berkeley.edu
Website: http://ib.berkeley.edu/labs/koehl/stud/lindsay.html
Primary Focus Area: Materials
Research Interests: Currently, I am studying how scaling affects odor sampling in marine and terrestrial crabs. Crabs have small tufts of chemosensory hairs which they move back and forth through their respective fluids in order to take and hold odor samples, or sniff. How fluid flows through these arrays is determined by their sizes and speeds, so I am also interested in how sniffing changes during growth and development.
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