He completed his Ph.D and M.S. in mechanical engineering at Northwestern University where he studied the propulsion of knifefish, a fish that uses an electric field to “see” at night in the Amazon River, and propels itself using a long ribbon fin to navigate around its complex environment. As a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University, he studied the mechanics of bat flight. Using a simple self-excited wing model he studied the fluid-structure interaction and the emergence of flapping motion in animal flight. In addition, he worked with electrically adapted wing membranes to develop highly maneuverable air vehicles.