معرفی
Mitra Hartmann is a **Professor of Biomedical Engineering**, **Mechanical Engineering**, and holds a **courtesy appointment in Computer Science** at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering. She leads the **Hartmann Lab** and the **Center for Robotics and Biosystems**, focusing on sensorimotor integration, robotics, and neuroethology. Her research bridges biomechanics, neuroscience, and robotics, with applications in tactile sensing and neuroprosthetics.
**Education**: PhD in Integrative Neuroscience (Caltech, 1996–2000), BS in Applied and Engineering Physics (Cornell, 1990–1994). Postdoctoral training at Caltech (Computational Neurobiology) and JPL (Bio-Computing).
**Research**: Her lab studies how animals (e.g., rats) use whiskers to actively sense their environment. Key areas include vibrissal mechanics, neural coding of tactile stimuli, and developing whisker-inspired robots for harsh environments. She emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches, combining experiments, modeling, and robotics.
**Awards**: Multiple McCormick Teaching Awards (2009–2011), NSF CAREER (2008), NAE Frontiers of Engineering (2008), and Searle Junior Fellowship (2006–2007).
**Teaching**: Undergraduate courses in fluid mechanics (ME 241/BME 270) and a graduate course on neural engineering and sensory acquisition (BME 462). Known for integrating hands-on robotics projects.
**Lab Activities**: The lab collaborates on open-source tool development for neuroscience and robotics. Current projects include tactile scene reconstruction, whisker-based flow sensing, and prosthetic devices inspired by biological systems.
