PLANTBIOMECHANICS.COM - Key Persons
Daniel Robertson is a mechancial engineer. Dr. Roberston joined NYU Abu Dhabi in 2013 as a Research Scientist. His recent findings can be found in Crop Science and Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials.
Douglas Cook is mechanical engineer whose research focuses on the biomechanics. His research projects currently spans subjects as diverse as modeling of human phonation (vocal vibrations), understanding the biomechanics of crops stalks, and the mechanics of musical instruments. In a broader sense, Dr. Cook's research probes the complex issue of how biological variability affects efforts to create deterministic computational models of biological systems.
Douglas began his undergraduate career studying music, and now applies his engineering training to better understand the biomechanics of the human voice and musical instruments. His research on the biological mechanisms for sound generation has won him grants from the National Science Foundation and Purdue University Strategic Initiatives. His findings have been published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, and The Journal of Biomechanics. In addition to engineering, Professor Cook plays the saxophone, speaks Mandarin Chinese, and has conducted research at Shanghai Jiaotong University in China.
Dr. Cook joined NYU Abu Dhabi from Purdue University, where he taught courses on basic mechanics and was awarded a national teaching fellowship by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He teaches engineering courses as well as a core course titled "Creativity and Innovation." Dr. Cook holds his Ph.D. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and a B.S. cum laude in mechanical engineering from Utah State University. He is the head of the Variability in Biomechanics Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi.
Margaret Julias is a chemical and biochemical engineer whose research focuses on the tissue mechanics. Her research projects utilize polarized light microscopy to understand collagen fiber orientation within biological tissues, e.g. skin and vocal fold tissues.
Dr. Julias joined NYU Abu Dhabi from Medical Diagnostic Laboratories in New Jersey. She holds her Ph.D., M.S, and B.S in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She is a post-doc research associate in Dr. Cook's lab.
Pradeep George joined NYU Abu Dhabi in 2010 as a post-doc research associate. He is now in charge of Senior Capstone Design Projects at NYUAD.
Simeon Smith joined NYU Abu Dhabi in 2013 as a Research Engineer.