Yu Zeng, Ph.D.
Biomechanist and evolutionary biologist based in Chapman University at Orange, California.
[my first name 昱 (Yu) is pronounced “ü”, see here and this YouTube video]
Email: dreavoniz{at}berkeley.edu
(yzeng7 at ucmerced is no longer working)

Research
* Biomechanics and evolution of flight and other aerial behaviors, such as parachuting, righting and gliding, especially in small insects
* Biomechanics and evolution of high-performance systems, including musculoskeletal systems, feeding apparatus, novel biomaterials, etc.
* Biomechanics and evolution at cellular level, including collective mobility, intracellular morphogenesis, etc.
* Study systems: arthropods (especially stick insects), anuran tadpoles, Caulobacter bacterium, hagfish slime and slime gland, plethodontid salamanders, etc.
Education
* Ph.D., Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Co-advisors: Robert Dudley & David Wake (new site)
* B.A., Biological Sciences, Sichuan University – University of Washington
Reviewed for
* eLife
* Frontiers in Ecology & Evolution
* Integrative and Comparative Biology
* Integrative Zoology
* iScience
* Journal of Experimental Biology
* Journal of Insect Sciences
* Journal of Comparative Physiology
* PeerJ
* Physical Review Letters
* PLOS ONE
* Scientific Reports
* Zoomorphology
Updates
- Mar-2023, epidermal threads & the origin of hagfish slime
- Jul-2022, biology of stalk-eyed fruit flies and interview
- Jun-2022, stick insect flight morphology
- Sep-2021, extreme allometry in hagfish thread cells
- Aug-2021, minimal framework for describing living systems
- Mar-2021, tadpole behavior
- Oct-2020, a novel motility in bacterial aggregates
- July-2020, canopy parkour in dispersing stick insects
- May-2020, wing evolution in stick insects
- Mar-2018, presenting at APS March Meeting
- Feb-2018, omnidirectional strike in flat spiders
- Jan-2018, 1st Place of the Luis Alvarez Award for Best Experimental Research, APS Far West Meeting 2017
Tags
arthropod behavioral ecology biomechanics biophysics cell biology evolution featured flight jumping land maneuvers microbial motility outreach rolling spider stick insect