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Jake Socha

Samuel Herrick Professor
  • Focus Area: Bioinspired Engineering
Jake Socha
332 Norris Hall
495 Old Turner St.
Blacksburg, VA 24061
jjsocha@vt.edu
(540) 231-6188

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Research Interests

Our lab studies the biomechanics of animals. We focus on how animals deal with fluids, both in locomotion (e.g., flight) and internally (e.g., circulation).

Flying snakes are the only limbless animals that glide through the air. Despite a lack of limbs, these arboreal snakes take off by jumping, glide through the air without using obvious control surfaces, maneuver, and safely land without injury. Our research focuses on how these snakes produce forces for these behaviors.

Skittering frogs use another unusual form of locomotion: they leap out of water in a single stroke, and then hop on top of the surface, akin to the water-running lizards.

Insects can be viewed as exquisite microfluidic systems: they pump air, blood, and food through their bodies, all within one small package. Compared to engineered systems, they are far smaller, controllable, and efficient than anything that humans have designed. How do insects produce these flows?

The Socha Lab

See Dr. Socha's publications on Google Scholar.

  • Aug 2021 - Present: Samuel Herrick Professor

    Virginia Tech
  • 2024-present: Professor,
    Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
  • 2019-2024: Professor,
    Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
  • 2014-2019: Associate Professor,
    Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
  • 2008 - 2014: Assistant Professor
    Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
  • 2021: Named Samuel Herrick Professor
  • 2020 Leader in Research Award, BEAM department, Virginia Tech
  • 2018 Dean's Award for Excellence in Outreach, College of Engineering, Virginia Tech
  • 2016 College of Engineering Faculty Fellow, Virginia Tech 
  • 2014 NSF CAREER Award, Physics of Living Systems (PoLS) 
  • 2012 Scholar of the Week, Virginia Tech (September 24, 2012) 
  • 2011 Invited symposium participant, National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Education 
  • 2010 Liviu Librescu Faculty Prize, Virginia Tech 
  • 2010 Outstanding New Assistant Professor Award, College of Engineering, Virginia Tech 
  • 2008 U.S. National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNC/TAM) Fellowship Grant Award 
  • 2004 Ugo Fano Named Postdoctoral Fellowship, Argonne National Laboratory 
  • 2001 Harper Fellowship, University of Chicago 
  • 1999 Berkman Fellowship, University of Chicago 
  • 1998 Stoye Award in General Herpetology, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists 
  • 1998 Biodiversity Training Grant, University of Chicago 
  • 1996 Pre-doctoral Graduate Fellowship Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation 
  • 1992 NASA Langley Aerospace Summer Scholar, summers of 1992 and 1993
  • The University of Chicago: Ph.D., 2002
  • Duke University: B.S., Physics, 1994 
  • Duke University: B.S., Biology, 1994