Jake Socha
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics
- Director, BIOTRANS Graduate Program
- Affiliate faculty member, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Synopsis:
Dr. Jake Socha conducts research in the areas of comparative biomechanics and bio-inspired engineering. His work focuses on animal locomotion and internal physiological flows.
Description:
The Socha Lab studies the biomechanics of animals and focuses on how animals interact with fluids, both in locomotion (e.g., flight) and internally (e.g., circulation). Flying snakes are the only limbless animals that glide through the air. Despite a lack of limbs, these arboreal snakes take off by jumping, glide through the air without using obvious control surfaces, maneuver, and safely land without injury. Dr. Socha's research focuses on how these snakes produce forces for these behaviors. Skittering frogs use another unusual form of locomotion: they leap out of water in a single stroke, and then hop on top of the surface, akin to the water-running lizards. Insects can be viewed as exquisite microfluidic systems: they pump air, blood, and food through their bodies, all within one small package. Compared to engineered systems, they are far smaller, controllable, and efficient than anything that humans have designed. How do insects produce these flows?