STEM Workshop on biomechanics

Posted by Springside Chestnut Hill Academy on April 25, 2016

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy

Kleckner Scientist in Residence 2016
Dr. Tonia Hsieh

Teacher Workshop
Tuesday, May 10
4:15 – 5:15 pm
RSVP to Scott Stein: sstein@sch.org

“Leaping lizards, crawling crabs, and scurrying spiders: using biomechanics to engage students in multiple dimensions of STEM”

Join Dr. Hsieh in a discussion of how animal locomotion and biomechanics can become a part of your STEM curriculum. Dr. Hsieh will share resources and activities that you can do with your students in grades 5–12.

Tonia Hsieh is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Temple University. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Organismal Biology at Harvard University. She was a post-doctoral researcher at Brown and Harvard Universities before joining the faculty at the University of Florida in 2008. In 2010, she moved to Philadelphia to build an interdisciplinary biomechanics research program at Temple
University, studying how animals move through the unpredictable natural world. Her work draws heavily on tools common to biology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science, involving a combination of locomotion experiments with animals and bioinspired physical modeling. In recognition of her research, she was awarded a $1M Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to complete a study exploring how animals use their feet to automatically stabilize themselves while running on complex terrain. Findings from this research can be applied towards the development of self-stabilizing robots. Simultaneously, this grant is enabling Dr. Hsieh to work with Philadelphia-area public schools to develop inquiry-based curricula to engage high school students in the sciences. The CAREER award is the most prestigious award at NSF in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through integration of “outstanding research and
education.” Dr. Hsieh received the William Caldwell Memorial Distinguished Teaching and Mentorship Award from Temple University’s College of Science and Technology in 2015.

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