Madhusudhan Venkadesan
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Additional Appointments
- Materials Science
Phone:
(203) 436-4728
Room / Office:
Room 224
Office Address:
17 Hillhouse Avenue
New Haven, CT 06511
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 208263
New Haven, CT 06520
About Madhusudhan Venkadesan
Degrees
- Ph.D., Cornell University
- M.S., Cornell University
- B.Tech., IIT Madras
Perspectives
Venkadesan studies the biomechanics and control of animal movement, and develops mechanisms inspired by those studies.
How do animals control their bodies, and what can we learn from them for building robots? Venkadesan's lab uses human subject experiments, control theory, dynamics, and robotics to understand how evolution affects the way we control our bodies. Behaviors include walking, running, throwing, and grasping, in humans or other animals, and in biologically inspired machines built in the lab.
Selected Awards & Honors
- NSF CAREER Award (2021)
- Poorvu Prize for Excellence in Teaching (2018)
- Human Frontier Science Program's Young Investigator Award (2013)
- Society for the Neural Control of Movement Scholarship (2010)
- Journal of Biomechanics Award (2006)
Selected Publications
- Venkadesan M, Yawar A, Eng CM, Dias MA, Singh DK, Tommasini SM, Haims AH, Bandi MM, Mandre S. Stiffness of the human foot and evolution of the transverse arch. Nature. 2020 Mar;579(7797):97-100. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2053-y. Epub 2020 Feb 26. PMID: 32103182.
- Dhawale N, Mandre S, Venkadesan M. Dynamics and stability of running on rough terrains. R Soc Open Sci. 2019 Mar 13;6(3):181729. doi: 10.1098/rsos.181729. PMID: 31032027; PMCID: PMC6458357.
- Nguyen KD, Sharma N, Venkadesan M. Active Viscoelasticity of Sarcomeres. Front Robot AI. 2018 Jun 14;5:69. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2018.00069. PMID: 33500948; PMCID: PMC7805709.
- Nguyen K, Yu N, Bandi MM, Venkadesan M, Mandre S. Curvature-induced stiffening of a fish fin. J R Soc Interface. 2017 May;14(130):20170247. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2017.0247. PMID: 28566508; PMCID: PMC5454310.
- Venkadesan M, Mahadevan L. Optimal strategies for throwing accurately. R Soc Open Sci. 2017 Apr 26;4(4):170136. doi: 10.1098/rsos.170136. PMID: 28484641; PMCID: PMC5414278.
- Roach NT, Venkadesan M, Rainbow MJ, Lieberman DE. Elastic energy storage in the shoulder and the evolution of high-speed throwing in Homo. Nature. 2013 Jun 27;498(7455):483-6. doi: 10.1038/nature12267. PMID: 23803849; PMCID: PMC3785139.
- Lieberman DE, Venkadesan M, Werbel WA, Daoud AI, D'Andrea S, Davis IS, Mang'eni RO, Pitsiladis Y. Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners. Nature. 2010 Jan 28;463(7280):531-5. doi: 10.1038/nature08723. PMID: 20111000.
