Chris Roh
Cornell University, NY·Engineering·Early-career
Whirligig beetles are small water insects that live mostly on the water surface. They move fast but with control, and they sense their surroundings well.
- Fields
Engineering
Biology
Physics
- Topics
fluid dynamics
whirligig beetle
Gyrinidae
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Nov 2029
What they work on
- Compare the fluid dynamics of whirligig beetle propulsion at the water surface and in deep water through experiments, to see how surface tension changes how they swim.
- Identify the sources of resistance a whirligig beetle faces when diving from the water surface to underwater, and determine how the beetle overcomes them.
- Determine the fluid dynamics governing how whirligig beetles use water surface ripples to detect food particles floating on the surface.
- Design affordable, student-safe and environmentally friendly fluid dynamics experimental tools for undergraduate courses and K-12 outreach, and share them at outreach events and conferences.
More about the research
This lets them glide on the surface, dive below it, escape predators and catch prey. How they manage this depends on fluid dynamics, the physics of how water moves and pushes back, including surface tension, the 'skin' at the water's surface. Understanding these tricks is a first step toward copying them in small robots that work both on and under water.
Why it matters
Knowing how whirligig beetles swim, dive and sense ripples could guide the design of miniature autonomous robots and vehicles that move between water surface and underwater. Such robots could help with search and rescue, precision agriculture and national defense. The low-cost teaching tools could also help students learn fluid mechanics hands-on.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
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Robert Guy
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The school
Cornell University: 37 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 537 research doctorates a year.
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