TIE Affiliation

Travel Grant Recipient

Experience

Ben is a PhD candidate in the Biology department. He expects to complete his studies in May 2023. Before coming to Tufts, Ben earned his B.A. in Cognitive Science from Vassar College. Ben has spent two summers doing work on the evolution of modularity of robotic systems, and another summer as a Mass Audubon camp counselor. At Tufts, aside from his studies, Ben is also a member of the Listening Project, a new initiative at Tufts focused on increased inclusion and student support in introductory science courses at Tufts.

Current Studies and Future Goals

When asked what he found most meaningful about his field of study, Ben responded with the following: "The work I am doing is biology with a mix of computer science and robotics added in. I am interested in soft robotics in particular because I see at is a useful way to apply much of the physiology research to a new field. There is a great deal to learn about how fish swim and sense the world, and that research can be applied to making bioinspired robots. The work I am doing now focuses more on learning how fish work, but it lays the foundations needed for myself or another to do the robotics work.".

When asked why he chose to apply for a TIE Travel Grant, Ben responded with the following: "I was interested in the TIE program because they do a great deal of interdisciplinary work focused on the environment. And while the research that I am doing is not directly environmental science, there is a good possibility that the work I do could be used to benefit the environment, most likely by providing less invasive and more environmentally friendly ways of studying aquatic environments. I can certainly imagine future collaboration that would help me tune my research to those ends".

Although he is only a first year graduate student at Tufts, Ben plans to get a Post-Doc position and become a professor once he finishes his studies at Tufts.

Fun Facts!

When not doing schoolwork, Ben enjoys playing board games, juggling, coding, and diving.

Favorite Place You've Visited: Hawaii

Favorite Thing You've Seen: Scottish Highlands

Favorite Course(s) Taken at Tufts: Pedagogy

Dream Job: Soft Robotics Researcher