She received her B.S. from Duke University in 1992 and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1998. She directs the NSF-funded Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program in Motor Control and Movement that trains students from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. She is the Chair-Elect of the Division of Comparative Biomechanics at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Melina’s research focuses on the organization and function of motor circuits and their evolution, the neuromechanics of movement and the role of sensory input in modulation of motor output, particularly in the larval zebrafish model system. She collaborates with engineers and biomechanists to instrument sensor systems on fish-inspired robots.