These hollow colloidal peanuts are like paired spheres and form ordered structures similar to those formed by free spheres, but the dynamics of such peanut crystals are strikingly different.

We have developed Grid Resolution Automated Tissue Elastography (GRATE) and Window Averaged Noisy Differentiation (WAND), two techniques that allow for measurement of the local shear modulus in articular cartilage and other soft biological tissues with improved spatial resolution over other established methods. 

Articular cartilage is a highly complex and inhomogeneous material. We have studied the spatially-dependent shear mechanical properties of this tissue using a novel confocal microscopy strain-mapping technique. Our primary motivation is to better understand how the elaborate structure of articular cartilage is related to its functional properties.

How do insects solve the problem of keeping stable in the face of unpredictable disturbances, such as gusts of wind? We devised a way to study insect flight control and stability by experimentally “tripping” insects in flight!

We discovered that flying insects steer by rowing their wings through the air.

Because insects have precise control over their wing movements, they can do weird maneuvers like sideways flying.

How do insects move their wings during flight? We developed two techniques that automatically reveal these motions: An experimental apparatus that automatically collects high-speed movies of flight and a tracking program that extracts the wing and body motions through time.

How do fluids with microscopic structure including liquid crystalline symmetry breakup?   The way in which Newtonian fluids such as water or honey breakup is fairly well understood, but the same is not true for many complex fluids.  One goal of our research is to understand how the microscopic structure correlates with the macroscopic dynamics in such systems.