Who we are
People
Principal Investigator
Dr. Christina Harvey
Assistant Professor · BIRD Lab Director · CALI Director · she/her
Christina Harvey is an engineer and zoologist who seeks to understand the fundamental principles of biological flight. Her research combines biomechanics, aerodynamics, flight dynamics, and animal behavior to uncover biological principles and determine which of those principles may benefit in engineering designs.
Her background bridges engineering and biology, with a BEng in Mechanical Engineering (McGill University), an MSc in Zoology (University of British Columbia), and a PhD in Aerospace Engineering (University of Michigan). That perspective shapes the BIRD Lab and the Center for Animal Locomotion & Innovation (CALI), where engineers, biologists, veterinarians, and computer scientists work together to answer questions no single discipline could solve alone.
Christina is an Amelia Earhart Fellow and a Packard Fellow. She is passionate about rigorous science, continually refining her mentoring and teaching through evidence and reflection, and building an open, collaborative research environment where curiosity comes first.
The team
Dr. Alfonso Martínez-Carmena
Postdoctoral Scholar · he/him
Photogrammetry · Raptor perching behavior.
Faiza Alvi
PhD Researcher · she/her
Avian airfoil geometry and aerodynamics.
Joshua Booth
PhD Researcher · he/him
Maneuverability & agility in morphing-wing dynamics.
Kaleb Bordner
PhD Candidate · he/him
Bird-informed morphing tail flight dynamics & control.
Alex Fillman
PhD Researcher · she/her
Range-of-motion quantification.
Francisco Jackson
PhD Candidate · he/him
Aerodynamics of bird perching.
Huanglun (Adam) Zhu
PhD Researcher · he/him
Nares-inspired pressure sensing for formation flight.
Zak Conte
Undergraduate Researcher · he/him
Elliot Crowder
Visiting Undergraduate Researcher · Sacramento City College · he/him
Narihide Fujita
Undergraduate Researcher · he/him
Ryuya Iwase
Undergraduate Researcher · he/him
Prabhat Karthikeyan
Undergraduate Researcher · he/him
Ava Lewis
Undergraduate Researcher · she/her
Wyatt Liu
Undergraduate Researcher · he/him
Haelie Tweet
Undergraduate Researcher · she/her
Scenes from the lab
Alumni
We are forever grateful to the members who helped build and grow our lab. They've gone on to positions in industry at Boeing, NASA Ames, and Northwood as well as to pursue academic positions at Stanford, UCLA, and CU Boulder.
See all 21 past members & where they are now
| Name | Role in the lab | Joined | Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Halford | Visiting Undergraduate Researcher · West Point Academy | 2026 | – |
| Emiliano Godinez | Visiting Undergraduate Researcher · Folsom Lake College | 2026 | – |
| Haotian Zhang | Undergraduate Researcher | 2026 | – |
| Adrian Chan | Undergraduate Researcher | 2025 | Stanford University |
| Jiayi Li | Undergraduate Researcher | 2025 | – |
| Ellie Hintzman | Undergraduate Researcher | 2024 | Industry |
| Gaurav Dhirar | Undergraduate Researcher | 2024 | Academia |
| Isa Khalak | Undergraduate Researcher | 2024 | UC Davis |
| Logan Reuter | Undergraduate Researcher | 2024 | Ultima Genomics |
| Mija Jovchevska | Visiting Researcher (JEB ECR Fellow) | 2024 | CU Boulder |
| Stevi Dunn | Undergraduate Researcher | 2024 | Lucid |
| Susie Benner | Undergraduate Researcher | 2024 | UC Davis |
| Alex Kerlee | Undergraduate Researcher | 2023 | Wisk |
| Bryan Tiang | Undergraduate Researcher | 2023 | Stanford University |
| Francesca Ciocca | Visiting Student · UBC | 2023 | Industry |
| Jackie The | Undergraduate Researcher | 2023 | Industry |
| Kiran Weston | Visiting Student · University of Oxford | 2023 | Newton Consulting |
| Lucas Dahlke | Undergraduate Researcher | 2023 | UCLA |
| Tejas Lotay | Undergraduate Researcher | 2023 | NASA Ames |
| Benjamin Tai-Brownlee | Undergraduate Researcher (first in lab) | 2022 | Boeing |
| Rowan Glenn | Undergraduate Researcher | 2022 | Northwood |