Mimi Koehl

Mimi Koehl, is a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She studies the physics of how organisms interact with each other and their environments. Mimi is fascinated by biological form, so the goal of her research is to identify basic physical rules that explain how morphology affects the mechanical functions of organisms, to help us understand the performance of diverse types of creatures in different habitats. She uses this approach to address ecological and evolutionary questions. Mimi combines techniques from fluid and solid mechanics with those from biology and ecology to do experiments in the field as well as in the laboratory. 

Mimi is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the California Academy of Science. She has received various awards, including: the John Martin Award from the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography for research that “created a paradigm shift in an area of aquatic sciences”, the Rachel Carson Award from the American Geophysical Union for "cutting-edge ocean science", the Borelli Award from the American Society of Biomechanics for “exemplary contributions to the field of biomechanics”, the Muybridge Award from the International Society of Biomechanics for “career achievement in biomechanics”, and the Distinguished Alumni Award, The Graduate School, Duke University.