Life pushes the boundaries of what seems possible.
While all things must obey the laws of physics, living things have adapted unique and seemingly physics-defying characteristics in order to fulfill their basic requirements of living. Within these adaptations, which have been selectively iterated over evolutionary time, are answers to many of the problems humans face in their day to day lives. The school of thought that most closely aims to identify these answers and implement them in design-based applications is biomimicry.
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Biomimicry requires understanding and utilizing complex biological systems as analogues for design, ultimately necessitating collaboration between biologists, who aim to understand biological structures and their functions, and engineers, who apply these biological processes, strategies and morphologies to anthropocentric design.
Biomimicry offers efficient and effective solutions that have been tested by natural selection—in turning to biomimicry, biologists and engineers hope to design for humans with a conscious appreciation of the natural world. As a biologist, I aim to contribute to the field of biomimicry by studying how and why certain biological structures interact with the physical world in order to identify specialized morphologies and biological strategies that may be used for future engineering design applications.
As an incoming PhD student at the University of Chicago (2024), I've had some amazing research opportunities that have vastly shaped my outlook and relationship to the natural world.
Phylogenetics and Biomechanics Lab
August 2024
Primary research goal: use coral reef fishes as a model for investigating the biomechanics of vertebrate feeding and locomotion in order to elucidate the evolutionary synthesis of structure, function and phylogeny.
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Behavioral Ecophysics Lab
June 2021 - Present
Primary research goal: use nectar-feeding birds as a study model to bridge the gap between known ecological/coevolutionary patterns and their underlying mechanisms.
SICB 2023 Poster: A comparison of methods for calculating mechanical power output of hovering hummingbirds.
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Clarke Lab
July 2021 - January 2022
Primary research goal: determine how avian diversity and distributions have changed across their deep histories, and highlight questions regarding how structures in living animals developed and how novel ways of moving—such as avian flight and wing-propelled diving—evolved.
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Aeromechanics and Evolutionary Morphology Lab
October 2018 - June 2021
Primary research goal: to explore the mechanistic basis of flight in bats and gain a better understanding of the evolution of animal architecture and biological materials, and how they are influenced by the physical world.
Thesis: The role of muscle action in controlling 3D wing shape in flying animals: the occipitopollicalis in bats and the dynamics of wing camber
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Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
Video courtesy of: Jorn Cheney
Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
Video courtesy of: Cosima Schunk
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Video courtesy of: Alejandro Rico-Guevara, Robert Dudley
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Video courtesy of: Alejandro Rico-Guevara, Robert Dudley
Education
Community and Leadership
University of Chicago
Doctor of Philosophy: Integrative Biology
2024 - 2029
Brown Outdoor Leadership Training
Leader and Mentor
2018 - 2021
Brown University
Bachelor of Science: Biomedical Engineering
Capstone Design Project:"Redesigning the Bag Valve Mask"
Brown Women's Club Soccer
Captain
The Underground Coffee Co.
Barista and Manager
2017 - 2021
2019 - 2021
2017 - 2021