Biomedical Engineering

Mitra Hartmann

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering

Education

Post-doc Bio-Computing, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA

Post-doc Computational Neurobiology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

Ph.D. Integrative Neuroscience, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

B.S. Applied and Engineering Physcis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Research Interests

Sensorimotor integration; robots as tools for studying neuroscience; sensory acquisition behaviors; neuroethology

Significant Recognition

• McCormick School of Engineering Teacher of the year, 2010
• McCormick School of Engineering Teacher of the Year, 2011, 2010, 2009
• NSF CAREER Award, 2008
• NAE 14th Annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, 2008
• Invited Participant, NINDS Workshop on Neuroprosthetics, 2008
• Packard Nominee, Northwestern University, 2006
• Searle Junior Fellow, Northwestern University, 2006-07
• Everhart Distinguished Graduate Student Lecturer Award, Caltech, 1996

Significant Professional Service

• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Neurophysiology
• NIH SMI Study Section Member
• Programming Committee Member, Barrels Society, 2007 - Present
• Guest Editor, Autonomous Robots, Special Issue on Biomorphic Robotics, 2001

In the Classroom

Profesor Hartmann teaches ME 241 and BME 270. Both classes are titled Introductory Fluid Mechanics. The flow of fluids is important in many applications ranging from blood flow in the human body to air flow over the wing of a jet aircraft. Undergraduates take this course at the end of their second year or at the beginning of their third year. The course uses integral calculus and differential equations, so these courses are prerequisites. It also helps to have taken physics and thermodynamics prior to this course.

Professor Hartmann also teaches a graduate level course, BME 462: Neural Engineering - Sensory Acquisition through Movement. This course focuses on an understanding of how animals move to acquire sensory data across multiple modalities, including vision, audition, and somatosensation. A previous introductory course in neuroscience is helpful.

Selected Publications

• R Blythe Towal;Brian W Quist;Venkatesh Gopal;Joseph H Solomon;Mitra J Z Hartmann, “The morphology of the rat vibrissal array: a model for quantifying spatiotemporal patterns of whisker-object contact”, PLoS computational biology, (2011)
• HJ CHIEL;LH TING;O EKEBERG;MJZ HARTMANN, “The Brain in Its Body: Motor Control and Sensing in a Biomechanical Context”, Journal of Neuroscience, (2009)
• JH Solomon, MJZ Hartmann, “Extracting Object Contours with the Sweep of a Robotic Whisker Using Torque Information”, The International Journal of Robotics Research, (2009)
• JH SOLOMON, MJZ HARTMANN, “Artificial Whiskers Suitable for Array Implementation: Accounting for Lateral Slip and Surface Friction”, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ROBOTICS, (2008)
• Towal, R. B.; Hartmann, M. J. Z., “Variability in velocity profiles during free-air whisking behavior of unrestrained rats.”, Journal of Neurophysiology, (2008)
• Birdwell, J. A.; Solomon, J. H.; Thajchayapong, M.; Taylor, M. A.; Cheely, M.; Towal, R. B.; Conradt, J.; Hartmann, M. J. Z., “Biomechanical models for radial distance determination by the rat vibrissal system.”, Journal of Neurophysiology, (2007)