Paul’s research is primarily at the intersection of fluid mechanics, elasticity, and collective behavior. He currently works on problems related to pattern formation of swirling elastic sheets and collective behavior of social insects. He is committed to teaching, outreach, and sustainability initiatives and is also studying the collective behavior of humans in the context of quantifying the energy consumption and waste production in an undergraduate house at Harvard.

Kimberly is a multidisciplinary researcher interested in collective behaviors across scales, particularly how the interactions between individuals give rise to emergent group dynamics in natural and engineered systems. Her work spans biological, environmental, and robotic systems, aiming to uncover design principles across diverse contexts using approaches from engineering, chemistry, physics, and biology. Current projects include investigations into ant traffic, biofilm dynamics, and linked active bots.

yeonsu-jung.github.io

Vishaal’s research interests are broadly in control theory, statistical mechanics and problems at the intersection of animal and robot navigation. His current work focuses on applications of stochastic optimal control and optimal transport to problems of biological navigation. He is also interested in the study of active matter, particularly the control of aging in many-body systems.

Justin investigates the formation of patterns and shapes, especially those that arise soft materials. His current research focuses on the formation of branched structures such as rivers, lightning bolts, trees, lungs, vasculature, etc. He explores methods to quantify the shape of these branched structures and develops computational models that can predict branch shape from branching dynamics. To put these methods and models to the test, he builds experimental systems that can create branched structures.

Sifan’s research interests lie in biological morphogenesis. She investigates multidisciplinary problems such as growth-induced surface patterns, morphodynamics of chemomechanical active shells, and phase separation of active solids. Prior to Harvard, Sifan received her PhD in Mechanics from Tsinghua Univ and B.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Tsinghua Univ. Her current work focuses on various aspects of biophysics including neuromechanics, inverse problem of morphogenesis, and bio-chemo-mechanical patterns of active matter.