Lucien (Physics '24) is a current graduate student at Glaucio Paulino's lab at Princeton University working on Origami Engineering. You will likely see Lucien walking up mountains, swinging wooden sticks, or surviving underwater, but you will always see him drinking Coca-Cola.

Leila ('26) is a prospective biophysics major doing polymer physics research with the materials team. She is currently working on bottlebrush rheology and has a strong interest in interdisciplinary science. In her free time she enjoys hiking, painting, and stargazing.

Taylor (HMC '25) is a rising junior computer science major from just outside Philadelphia. In addition to computer science, Taylor has a strong interest in mechanical and materials engineering. For PoSM Lab, she is working on analyzing how tendons with different functions respond to the same types of mechanical tests. She enjoys music, theater, over analyzing movies and tv-shows, and spending time with her dogs.

Sophie Poole (HMC 25’) is a rising junior and is majoring in Computer Science and Math. She loves musicals, computer graphics/animation, scuba diving, and her dogs. She has previously worked in Cathy McFadden’s lab researching Octocorals at Mudd. She’s excited to keep the ocean theme going by working on Mantis Shrimp with the PoSM lab.

Dalton (HMC '25) is from Boulder Colorado. He is majoring in Engineering with a particular interest in Aerospace, but an interest in basically any type of engineering project. On the PoSM Lab team, he is working on researching how scaling affects LaMSA systems, and redesigning the instrumentation for the lab's recoil testing machine. He enjoys hiking, Formula 1, and Hip Hop in his free time.

Martin (’25) is a junior engineering major at Harvey Mudd College. He is interested in robotic mechanisms and electrical engineering. As a member of the robotic subgroup, Martin focuses on designing and improving small-scale jumping robot, Universal Testing Machine and spring-powered robot dog. He has a great interests in physics and believe that engineering skills have great help in the lab. He loves games, movies and anime.

Jadyn ('26) is a member of the PoSM Lab materials team! Although she's focusing on computer science and theatre, physics brings her a lot of joy. She loves musical theatre, Dungeons & Dragons, pandas, and hand-drawn animation.

Caetano Pérez-Marchant (class of 2024) comes from Santa Barbara, California, and began pursuing an undergraduate degree in chemistry at Harvey Mudd College. Although Caetano is open to studying all forms of chemistry, his current trajectory is headed towards polymer and material science. Caetano joined PoSM lab during the 2022-2023 academic year and summer of 2023 as part of the materials sub-team. At the moment he studies the rheology of a specific elastomer while altering its composition. His interests include running, science fiction novels, dishes containing grilled salmon, the tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons, and skeletons. He promises the last item on that list is not weird and should not be cause for concern.

Ingrid (‘23) is a rising first-year graduate student at MIT MERS lab. She graduated with Computer Science department at HMC, and she holds a strong interest in physics. As a member of biomaterials team in PoSM lab, she aims to improve existing mathematical models of mantis shrimp strikes to have a better understandings of physics involved in animals of small scales.

James Clinton is a sophomore engineering major at Harvey Mudd College. His academic interests are centered on designing and studying robotic mechanisms and systems. In the posmlab, James is currently working on analyzing the performance of robotic jumpers, and designing a spring-powered robot dog. In his free time, James enjoys playing viola, working in the machine shop, and building 3D printers.

After recently joining the Department of Physics at HMC in 2018, Prof. Ilton is seeking curious and enthusiastic students interested in Soft Matter and Biomechanics to join the PoSM Lab. When not in the classroom or lab, you will likely find him in the yoga studio, biking around town, or relaxing in the back yard.

Paco Navarro (‘25) is from Minneapolis Minnesota!

Paco is majoring in Physics and Math with an emphasis in environmental analysis. He races bikes, loves to cook, and sing! You’ll more than likely find him outside, even if it’s -40 or he’s sleeping :)

Ross is a junior studying engineering at HMC. His research interests include physiology, ecology, and learning about the ways in which biological systems have adapted to efficiently interact with their environment. He is most interested in the intersection of engineering and biology. Outside of class, if he is not watching movies, reading, or playing video games, he is probably asleep.

Vanessa Bartling is a freshman at Harvey Mudd College. Her intended major is engineering with a concentration in economics. She is part of the materials subgroup in the posm lab. Vanessa has entrepreneurial ambitions related to wearable technology and smart textiles. She plays the drum set in different jazz groups and designs and sews clothing

Alex Schlegel hails from the Washington D.C. area, where he developed an interest in physics, particularly mechanics, after being punched by a radioactive mantis shrimp. A physics major (class of 2023) at Harvey Mudd College, he hasn't quite nailed down what he wants to do with his life yet, but is sure that it will involve physics in some capacity and is hopeful that it will allow for him to keep learning. His interests include good books, bad movies, card games for nerds, and hoping in vain that society as we know it will wait to collapse until after he's dead.

Kaeshav (’24) is a Math-Physics major working in the modeling team at PoSMLab. He joined in Spring 2022 and is currently using computer simulations to understand how elastic materials store and release energy. Outside of research, he enjoys reading, gardening, and photography.

Lauren Henson (she/they) is a rising junior at Mudd, and is pursuing an undergraduate degree in physics (with an emphasis in astrophysics). Lauren joined PoSM lab in the summer of 2022, and will be working on the lab’s modeling team. They look forward to learning more about mantis shrimp and bio-elastic materials along the way. In the future, Lauren plans to pursue a Ph.D. in astrophysics, hopefully specializing in galactic origins and evolution (though that is subject to change). In their free time, Lauren likes to sketch, hang out with friends, and play with their two cats, Rosie and Sugar.

Amber (‘24) is an engineering major at Mudd. They are interested in mechanical design, bioinspired design, and robotic systems. In the lab, they work on the robotics subteam and are investigating ways to make the LaMSA (latch-mediated spring actuated) system more efficient.

Tanvi is a sophomore at HMC majoring in Physics and CS (IPS). She is currently studying performance tradeoffs in a LaMSA robotic jumper, and is also interested in computational physics. Outside of research, she enjoys crocheting and baking!

Avalon is a senior physics major and is completing their thesis in the lab after two summers of on-campus materials science research. Her thesis explores the effect on energy efficiency of elastomers, both synthetic and biological, under asymmetric loading and unloading times. Outside of the lab, they enjoy watching movies with friends, doing puzzles of all kinds, and spending time with her cat, Dante.

Andrew is doing a thesis on simulation of viscoelastic recoil. They like making plots pretty at the expense of clarity. In their free time, they enjoy playing FFXIV and drawing bunnies.

Halie is an engineering major at Harvey Mudd, class of 2022, originally from San Francisco. She joined PoSM Lab in the spring of 2021.

Halie is interested in materials development, sustainability, and bio-inspired engineering! She worked on the joint cone snail project with the Mendelson FILM Lab in the engineering department over the spring of 2021, and transitioned to the Materials subteam for the summer of 2021, where she worked with Carolyn on developing procedures for synthesizing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymers in the lab. She is excited for PoSM Lab to create our own polymers with customizable material properties!

Halie really enjoys collecting stickers and bullet journaling, and is an avid reader of Webtoons. She is always down to talk about cool animal facts and model organisms!

Andrés is a sophomore at HMC. He is currently investigating how organisms use elastic materials to store and release energy, but is generally interested in mathematically modeling living systems. Outside of class, he enjoys watching TV and playing board games with his friends.

Nick Heller is a sophomore in physics at HMC. His research interests include biophysics, particle physics, and renewable energy. He also has a keen interest for interdisciplinary problems in physics. Outside of physics, Nick enjoys climbing mountains and playing the piano.

A first-year student at HMC, Winnie’s research interests include environmental science and green technologies. She is especially interested in how ecology and climate change intersect. Outside of research, she enjoys oil painting and gardening!