Ryan St. Pierre

Dr. Ryan St. Pierre is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences). His research focuses on microrobots, insect biomechanics, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), aiming to understand biological systems and develop microrobot analogs. He leads the Robot Form and Function Lab and has been recognized with the 2018 Best Paper Award at the Solid-State Sensors Workshop and inclusion in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Science list.

Education:

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, 2018
• MS in Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University, 2012
• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University, 2012

Research Interests: Dr. St. Pierre’s work bridges robotics, biomechanics, and MEMS to design highly mobile microrobots. Key themes include energy-efficient locomotion, bio-inspired mechanisms (e.g., springtail-inspired jumping), and control strategies for ultrafast systems. His lab explores applications like reconfigurable swarms and autonomous millirobots.

Publications: Recent work emphasizes innovations in jumping microrobots, latch-mediated control systems, and biomimetic actuators. Themes across his articles include energy storage/release mechanisms, multi-modal locomotion, and dynamics optimization.

Awards:

• Best Paper Award, Solid-State Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems Workshop (2018)
• Forbes 30 Under 30 Science List (2020)

Labs & Teams: He directs the Robot Form and Function Lab, focusing on interdisciplinary robotics research. Collaborations span mechanical engineering, computer science, and biomimetics.