The group has been fortunate to have had ~35 graduate students, ~70 postdoctoral fellows over the years. We work with an outward-looking view from mathematics and physics to solve problems that arise in a range of areas across science and engineering, encompassing experiment, theory and computation.
Nearly ~40 members of the group are in private industry, and ~60 members of the group are now faculty in physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, computer science, geophysics, psychology, and Schools of Engineering and Medicine.
Professor L. Mahadevan
Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics
Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Professor of Physics
lmahadev@g.harvard.edu
(617) 496-9599
Curriculum Vitae
Postdoctoral Fellows

Salem’s areas of research include applied math, quantitative biology and soft matter physics. His research applies methods from differential geometry to study growth form and function of organisms. This involves developing morphometric methods to quantify shape changes over developmental and evolutionary timescales and morphogenetic models to study growing biological structures.

Gaurav’s areas of research include mechanical metamaterials, kirigami, origami, and rheology.

Alex is using optimal control theory from engineering to design optimal drug treatment regimes for Alzheimer’s disease. He is also investigating the applicability of Lie symmetry techniques to problems of biological self-assembly.

Fabio is interested in the physical and neuromechanical principles that govern animal movement and locomotion. He investigates these principles by developing dynamical and control-theoretic models, as well as biomimetic robot experiments. Among other things, his recent work examines the dynamics of bipedal locomotion in little skates, and he is currently studying self-organized behavior in ants and the optimal control of octopus arm movements.


Visiting Scholars

Email Website
Mattia develops data-driven methods and mathematical models to study complex biological and physical systems, mostly defined through experimental dynamical data sets. These systems are typically nonlinear, multi-scale and chaotic, and thus require new ideas to 1) best uncover the underlying causal mechanisms from their footprint on data, and 2) predict their behavior from the essential driving processes.
Research Associates

Research Associate in Applied Mathematics
Email Website Google Scholar
Aditi’s areas of research include: pattern formation, instabilities in solids and fluids, and mechanics in morphogenesis.


Research Associate in Genetics
Anna uses Molecular Dynamics simulations, polymer theory and differential geometry to study knots and entanglement in soft- and biological matter. Her aim is to characterize and control disorder in topological amorphous solids.

Email Website
Thomas’s research focuses on the development of theoretical tools to understand biological aggregation processes across multiple scales. Topics of interest include theory of protein aggregation, liquid-liquid phase separation and the mechanics of filamentous aggregates. He also applies the resulting methods to a range of problems beyond biological aggregation, including control theory, aging and cancer dynamics.

Sifan is focusing on mathematical modeling and scientific computing to investigate the morphogenesis and pattern formation in soft matter, such as surface wrinkling, growth-induced buckling, phase separation and chemo-mechanical oscillation and waves in biological tissues.
Junior Fellows

Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows
Email Website
Suraj’s research interests are broadly in statistical mechanics, condensed matter and biophysics. His current work focuses on various aspects of active matter, including phase separation, topological phenomena and tissue morphogenesis, along with questions of control and optimal transport of continuous media. He also studies the statistics and mechanics of slender elastic bodies and associated instabilities. Suraj is also interested in problems involving the thermodynamic consequences of adaptation and control in biophysical navigatio
Graduate Students


Email Website
Nicky uses simulations based on the Cosserat theory of elastic rods to model biology- and engineering-motivated systems of interacting soft filaments, and employs knot theory methods to understand the systems on a fundamental level and predict their behavior in circumstances where standard physics approaches often prove intractable. He spends much of his time developing and implementing algorithms that combine and calculate useful knot theory quantities for collections of three-dimensional strings.

Email Website
Siheng’s research interest lies in the interface between mathematical and computational modeling in a wide variety of physical and biological systems, with specific focus on network-based models. Applications include designing origami/kirigami materials and motion control in robotics.


Lauren is interested in mechanical bases of pattern formation and recognition, particularly in systems dominated by geometric effects.



Email Website
Irina is interested in interdisciplinary projects on optimization, signal processing, robotics, and acoustics. After studying trajectory planning algorithms for the first two years of her PhD, she now works on the application of elastic functional data analysis and optimal transport to biological problems, including analysis of gait and of morphology. She is also very interested in the use of computational methods to assist sustainability and wildlife conservation; and particularly in the characterization and classification of acoustic signals.



Undergraduate Students

Name | Role in the lab | Where are they now? |
---|---|---|
Mokhtar Adda-Bedia | research associate 2002-2003 | Director de Recerche, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France |
Médéric Argentina | postdoc 2002-2004 | Professor of Physics, University of Nice, Nice, France |
Mahesh Bandi | postdoc 2009-2011 | Assistant Professor of Physics, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan |
Renaud Bastien | postdoc | 2011-2013, currently postdoc, MPI Cologne, Germany |
John Biggins | postdoc 2010-2012 | Research Fellow, Trinity Hall and Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, |
Otger Campas | postdoc 2007-2011 | Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, UCSB, Santa Barbara |
Dervis can Vural | postdoc 2012-2013 | currently Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA, |
Andreas Carlson | postdoc | 2011-2014, currently Associate Professor Mathematics, U. Oslo, Norway |
Enrique Cerda | postdoc 1998-1999 | 2001-2002, Professor of Physics, University of Santiago, Santiago, Chile, |
Chon U Chan | postdoctoral fellow 2017-2019 | |
Raghunath Chelakkot | postdoc | 2011-2014, currently Assistant Professor of Physics, IIT Mumbai |
Gary Choi | ||
Jun Chung | Korean Institute for Standards and Technology | |
Adam Cohen | PhD Student 2001-2003 | Professor of Chemistry, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA |
Tal Cohen | postdoc 2015-2016 | Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA, |
Andres Concha | postdoc 2010-2012 | Assistant Professor of Physics, Adolfo Ibanez University, Santiago, Chile |
Damien Cuvelier | postdoc 2005-2007 | Assistant Professor of Physics, Institut Curie, Paris, France |
Moumita Das | postdoc 2003-2004 | Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Rochester, New York, USA |
Levi Dudte | graduate 2011-2017 | Financial Services Consultant, Chicago, IL, USA |
Jacques Dumais | postdoc 2001-2003 | Professor of Bioengineering, Adolfo Ibanez University, Santiago, Chile |
John Eungdamrong | PhD Student 1998-2001 | |
Yoel Forterre | postdoc 2002-2003 | Associate Professor of Physics, Polytechnique Marseille, Marseille, France |
David Fronk | graduate student 2016-2019 | |
Mattia Gazzola | postdoc 2013-2016 | Assistant Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA, |
Sharon Gerbode | postdoc 2010-2011 | Assistant Professor of Physics, Harvey Mudd College, California |
Animangsu Ghatak | postdoc 2002-2004 | Professor of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India |
Luca Giomi | postdoc 2010-2012 | Assistant Professor of Physics, Lorentz Institute, University of Leiden, Netherlands |
Arvind Gopinath | postdoc 2005-2007 | Research Professor, Haverford College, PA |
Zengai Guo | PhD Student 2005-2010 | postdoc in Neurobiology, Janelia Farms, VA, USA |
Yuval Hart | postdoctoral fellow 2015-2019 | |
Mark Henle | postdoc 2008-2011 | Independent Entrepreneur, California |
John Higgins | postdoc 2006-2009 | Assistant Professor of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA |
Evan Hohlfeld | PhD Student 2003-2008 | Wall Street, NY |
Alexander Isakov | Gradate Student 2011-2016 | postdoc, Yale Institute for Network Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA |
Gareth Wyn Jones | postdoc 2009-2011 | Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Manchester, UK |
Alexandre Kabla | postdoc 2004-2007 | Assistant Professor of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK |
Ken Kamrin | postdoc 2007-2010 | Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA |
Nadir Kaplan | postdoc 2012-2016 | postdoc, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, |
Ho-Young Kim | postdoc 2003-2004 | Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea |
Hunter King | postdoc 2012-2016 | Assistant Professor of Polymer Science, and Biology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA |
John Kolinski | Gradate Student 2009-2014 | currently postdoc, Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, |
Christophe Koudella | postdoc 2002-2004 | Wall Street, NY |
Igor Kulic | postdoc 2006-2008 | Director de Recerche, CNRS Strasbourg |
Haiyi Liang | postdoc 2006-2010 | Professor of Mechanics, University of Science and Technology, Hefei, China |
Shreyas Mandre | lecturer on applied mathematics and postdoc 2006-2010 | Assistant Professor of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, |
Madhav Mani | Gradate Student 2005-2010 | Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA, |
Andrew Marantan | Gradate Student 2011-2017 | Financial Services Consultant, Chicago, IL, USA |
Elisabetta Matsumoto | postdoc 2014-2016 | Assistant Professor of Physics, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA, |
Andrew McCormick | Gradate Student 2010-2013 | Currently at Google, Mountain View, CA |
Paula Mellado | postdoc 2010-2012 | Assistant Professor of Physics, Adolfo Ibanez University, Santiago, Chile |
Edvin Memet | graduate student 2015-2019 | |
Yasmin Meroz | postdoc 2013-2017 | Assistant Professor of Plant Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel |
Shruti Mishra | ||
Greg Morrison | postdoc 2008-2012 | currently Assistant Professor of Economics, IMT, Lucca, Italy |
Aryesh Mukherjee | PhD Student 2008-2012 | postdoc, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan |
Sam Ocko | Gradate Student 2010-2015 | currently postdoc, Department of Applied Physics, Stanford |
Paolo Paoletti | PhD Student and postdoc 2009-2012 | Assistant Professor of Engineering, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK |
Orit Peleg | postdoc 2014-2017 | Assistant Professor of Computer Science, and Biophysics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA |
Jacob Peters | graduate student 2015-2019 | |
Ido Regev | postdoc 2013-2015 | currently Assistant Professor of Physics, Ben Gurion University, Israel |
Etienne Reyssat | postdoc 2007-2009 | Charge de Recerche, ESPCI, Paris, France |
Denis Richard | postdoc 2001-2002 | in Vivendi Water |
Christophe Riera | postdoc 2002-2004 | Wall Street, NY |
Teresa Ruiz-Herero | postdoc 2014-2017 | currently Data Scientist |
Louis Ryan | Gradate Student 2012-2014 | currently at Google, New York, NY |
Baoudouin Saintyves | postdoc 2014-2016 | postdoc, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA, |
Thierry Savin | postdoc 2007-2009 | Assistant Professor of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK |
Jennifer Shin | PhD Student 1999-2004 | Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, South Korea |
Jan Skotheim | PhD Student 2001-2004 | Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, |
Anja Slim | postdoc 2009-2010 | Schlumberger-Doll Research, Cambridge, MA, USA |
Vamsi Spandan | ||
Siddharth Srinivasan | St Gobain Research, Foxboro, MA | |
Tuomas Tallinen | postdoc 2010-2012 | Assistant Professor of Physics, Jyvaskyla University, Helsinki, Finland |
Jeremy Teichman | PhD Student 1998-2003 | at Center for Defense Analysis, Maryland, USA |
Arpita Upadhyaya | postdoc 1999-2000 | Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA, |
Wim van Rees | postdoc 2015-2017 | Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA, |
Dominic Vella | PhD Student 2002-2004 | Lecturer in Mathematics, University of Oxford, UK |
Madhusudhan Venkadesan | postdoc 2008-2010 | Assistant Professor of Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA |
Etienne Vouga | postdoc 2013-2014 | currently Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA, |
Christoph Weber | postdoc 2016-2018 | currently Group Leader, MPIPKS, Dresden |
Zhiyan Wei | Gradate Student 2009-2014 | currently postdoc, Biology and Bioengineering, Stanford University, CA, USA, |
Matthieu Wyart | postdoc 2005-2006 | Professor of Physics, New York University, New York, USA |
Fengzhu Xiong | postdoctoral fellow 2016-2019 | |
Ee Hou Yong | Gradate Student 2008-2012 | currently Assistant Professor of Physics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore |