Prospective Students

Currently, my students and I are researching several areas of investigation: (1) jet and fin coordination in squids, (2) turning performance in cuttlefishes and squids, (3) escape dynamics and sensory biomechanics in squids, (4) sensory physiology of sea turtles, (5) swimming mechanics of sea turtles, and (6) physiological ecology of dolphins.  I have broad interests in marine biomechanics and marine physiological ecology, and therefore, I invite students with backgrounds in biology and/or engineering who are interested in pursuing questions in these fields to join my laboratory.  Most of my students pursue projects with both field and laboratory components.  A range of equipment is available to students in my lab, including a digital particle image velocimetry system, two defocusing digital particle image velocimetry systems, a Tucker-Davis-Technologies (TDT) signal processing system, motorized traverse systems for animal movement tracking, high-speed cameras, swim tunnel respirometers, electromyography equipment, and two engineering grade water tunnels.  Moreover, my lab has trawls and other field capture equipment, access to vessels, and seawater systems for holding a range of marine animals captured locally in the Chesapeake Bay, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and the neritic waters off Virginia Beach.