Publications

Research Interests

          I'm interested in biomechanics and functional morphology.  Specifically in biomaterials and how changes in structure and composition change with changes in use.  

          My work to date has focused on invertebrate systems. Thus far I have mainly focused on investigating the Poisson's ratio of crustacean exoskeleton.  I have also done a small side project, looking at the mechanism of inflation and deflation in the sea star Pteraster tesselatus.  

          For my thesis work, I am shifting my focus to vertebrate systems.  I am planning on investigating the functional morphology of crushing teeth in non-mammalian systems.  I will focus primarily on fishes, and am hoping to analyse extinct as well as extant taxa.  I will test canonical models and actual tooth forms in both a Finite Elements Analysis program and a physical materials testing system to determine what makes a highly effective crushing tooth morphology.  I am also planning to look at the fundamental composition crushing teeth and the material properties of the composite materials.

Biography

Education:

University of Chicago (2002-2006) BA, Biological Sciences

University of Washington (Friday Harbor Labs)

Invertebrate Zoology (Summer 2005)

Biomechanics (Summer 2008)

Fish Biomechanics (summer 2010)

University of California, Irvine (Fall 2007-Summer 2009) graduate student

University of Washington (Fall 2009-present) graduate student