Lab members
Currently working in the lab. Click here for previous members.
Jake Socha
Jake Socha
Jake Socha
Dr. Jake Socha
Principal Investigator
I am the Samuel Herrick Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. I am also a member of the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, an affiliate of VT’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Department of Biological Sciences, and Department of Entomology, a member of VT’s Integrative Organismal Biology group, and member of of VT's BIOTRANS interdisciplinary graduate education program.
Graduate students
Jeff Anderson
Ph.D. student
Jeff is a Ph.D. student in Biological Sciences. His research explores the challenges and tradeoffs that limbless reptiles experience when feeding in an arboreal environment. Jeff earned his BS in biology from University of Maryland Eastern Shore and his masters from Emporia State University studying the influence of temperature on the constriction performance of corn snakes.
Yohan Sequeira
Ph.D. student
Yohan is a Ph.D. student in the engineering mechanics program of the ME department. He is also a member of the Biological Transport (BIOTRANS) program, an interdisciplinary graduate program that integrates engineering and biology. He earned his BS and MS in biological engineering from Cornell University. He is working on how flying squid fly.
Josh Taylor
Ph.D. student
Josh (aka, Rob) is a Ph.D. student in the engineering mechanics program of the ME department. He is also a member of the Biological Transport (BIOTRANS) program, an interdisciplinary graduate program that integrates engineering and biology. He earned his BS in kinesiology from James Madison University. He is working on jumping in snakes.
Jacob Sobol
Masters student
Jacob is a masters student in the Biological Sciences department. He earned his BS in marine biology from California State University, Long Beach. He is trying to figure out why juvenile poachers form weird body shapes when swimming.
Amado Al Doori
Ph.D. student
Amado is a Ph.D. student in the engineering mechanics program in the ME department. He earned his BS in biomedical engineering from Virginia Tech. He is working on locomotion in soft-bodied organisms.
MJ Bishoff
Masters student
MJ is a masters student in the ME department. She earned her BS in chemistry from Clemson University. She is working on locomotor questions involving whirligig beetles.
Saadbin Khan
Ph.D. student
Saadbin is a PhD student in the engineering mechanics program of the ME department. He is also a member of the Biological Transport (BIOTRANS) program, an interdisciplinary graduate program that integrates engineering and biology. He is co-advised within the lab, and his primary advisor is Dr. Anne Staples. Saadbin earned his BS in mechanical engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology and his masters in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Oklahoma State University.
Undergraduates
