Mimi R Koehl

B.A. in Biology with Departmental Honors, Magna Cum Laude, Gettysburg College Ph.D. in Zoology, Duke University (advisor: Steven Wainwright) Postdoctoral Fellow, Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington (advisor: Richard Strathmann) Postdoctoral Fellow, University of York, England (advisor: John Currey) Mimi Koehl is a scientist who studies the physics of biological structures in aquatic organisms. She is one of the few scientists who applies the principles of engineering sciences, especially applied mechanics, to understanding basic biological processes.She utilizes this approach to investigate the various ways in which organisms withstand and utilize the movement of water or air around them. Using fluid and solid mechanics, Koehl studies a variety of problems ranging from how molecules are captured by olfactory antennae and how food particles are filtered from the water by aquatic animals, to the mechanisms by which bottom-dwelling marine organisms withstand waves and currents, and to the evolution of aerodynamic performance in insects and gliding vertebrates. Since 1983, Koehl has been a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley.