David Boerma

Research Associate, Former NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Research Associate, Former NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Email:
dboermaSPAMFILTER@amnnh.org
Phone:
212-769-5274
David Boerma

Education

  • Ph.D. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University (RI) 2019, Dissertation: Mechanics and Evolution of Unsteady Flight Maneuvers in Bats
  • M.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University (RI) 2017
  • B.S. Biological Sciences, Clemson University (SC) 2013

Research Interests

The natural environments in which animals live can be complex and disruptive, and I’m fascinated by how locomotor systems function in this context. My research explores how animal anatomy (form), movement (function), and environment (ecology) change together over the course of evolution. I currently study these broad connections in bats by examining how wing morphology, landing mechanics, and roosting ecology are linked, and how these linkages relate to diversification.

Publications

Boerma DB, Barrantes JP, Chung C, Chaverri G, Swartz SM. 2019. Specialized maneuvers in Spix’s disk-winged bat (Thyroptera tricolor) reveal linkage between roosting ecology and landing biomechanics. Submitted to The Journal of Experimental Biology

Boerma DB, Treskatis TL, Breuer KS, and Swartz SM. 2019. Wings as inertial appendages: how bats recover from aerial stumbles. Submitted to The Journal of Experimental Biology

Vejdani HR, Boerma DB, Swartz SM, and Breuer KS. 2019. The dynamics of hovering flight in hummingbirds, insects and bats with implications for aerial robotics. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.

Vejdani HR, Boerma DB, Swartz SM, and Breuer KS. 2017. Guidelines for the design and control of bio-inspired hovering robots. Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2017 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

Teaching Experience

  • Human Anatomy (Graduate Level - Medical School)
  • Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy (Undergraduate Level)