Suzanne Cox

PhD Candidate

MSME, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2012
MA,Philosophy Brown University, 2005
BFA, Sculpture Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 2000
BS Physics University of New Hampshire 1997
BA Philosophy University of New Hampshire 1997

Advisor: Gary B. Gillis
Dissertation/thesis title: The consequences of speed: studies of cavitation during the mantis shrimp strike and the control of rapid deceleration during toad landing

Research Interests

I'm a bit of jack of all trades in biomechanics. I've studied fluid dynamics of the fastest animals in water, shell fracture under impact loads and the perceptual requirements for coordinated toad landing. Fundamentally, I'm an experimentalist, a problem solver. I love designing new equipment to study things that would otherwise be impossible. I try to bring together my background in physics, engineering and furniture making to solve interesting puzzles about how biological systems work

Even before studying biology, I was inspired by the beauty of biological forms.  Here's a few examples of furniture I built inspired by human anatomy.

. Trapezius Chair Inspired by the muscles of the neck 2007 Cherry

  Close up of the back rails

Pelvis Stool 2008 Wenge, Ash and Leather

 detail

 

Publications

PAPERS
Cox, SM, Schmidt, D, Modarres-Sadeghi, Y, Patek, SN. 2014 A Physical model of the extreme mantis shrimp strike: Kinematics and cavitation of Ninjabot. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics 9 016014

PUBLISHED ABSTRACTS
Gallardo, M, Schnyer, A, Schikowski, E, Cox, S, Gillis, G. 2014 Indirect evidence of elastic energy storage and release during limb recovery in toad hopping. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Austin, TX. P2.39

Cox, SM, Patek, SN. 2014 Does cavitation limit the speed of mantis shrimp? Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Austin, TX 91.6

COX, SM; Modarres-Sadeghi, Y; Patek, S. 2012 Physical model of the feeding strike of the mantis shrimp. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Charleston, SC. 107.6