ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book exists because of the creativity, hard work, and acumen of three terrific professionals. Jeff Kosmacher, director of media relations and public affairs at Vassar College; my agent, Laura Wood, of FinePrint Literary Management; and my editor, T. J. Kelleher of Basic Books. Jeff got Mike Hill, of the Associated Press, to report on our evolving robots. Laura read Mike’s story, conceived of a book, convinced me to write it, and then found it a wonderful home at Basic Books. T. J. gave me the freedom to write what I wished and then skillfully reworked the manuscript into a book. My respect and appreciation for this trio are infinite.

My thanks to the team at Basic Books who provided invaluable support: Sandra Beris, project editor; Josephine Mariea, copyeditor; Tisse Takagi, associate editor; Michele Jacob, VP and director of publicity; and Andrea Bussell, publicity manager.

Two environments have allowed me to thrive: home and work. Meg, Isabel, Adele, Madeleine, Tamasin, Capercaillie, and Kookaburra have made family life bustling, bright, and restorative. Karabadangbaraka! In the Biology Department at Vassar I’ve been lucky to have generous and inspiring colleagues: Jerry Calvin, Lynn Christenson, Tebbie Collins, Pauline Contelmo, Erica Crespi, Jeremy Davis, Kelli Duncan, David Esteban, Dick Hemmes, Barbara Holloway, David Jemiolo, Jason Jones, Jenni Kennell, Betsy Ketcham, Sue Lerner, Ann Mehaffey, Leathem Mehaffey, Bonnie Milne, Sue Painter, Marshall Pregnall, Mark Schlessman, Bill Straus, Kate Susman, Bob Suter, Nancy Pokrywka, Jodi Schwarz, Lina Spallone, Julie Williams, and Keri VanCamp. In the Cognitive Science Program Jan Andrews, Gwen Broude, Carol Christensen, Kathleen Hart, Ken Livingston, and Carolyn Palmer have all been adventurous enough to team-teach with me and, in so doing, serve as my tutors in the vast multidisciplinary field that is cognitive science.

The research in this book is the joyous consequence of working with brilliant, happy collaborators, folks whom Laura would call “fun-loving nerds who want to learn something cool.” Six have been fool enough to work with me continually for the past ten to twenty years: Tom Koob (MiMedx Group, Inc.), Chun Wai Liew (Lafayette College), Ken Livingston (Vassar), Matt McHenry (University of California, Irvine), Charles Pell (Physcient, Inc.), and Robert Root (Lafayette College). Others showing questionable judgment in their professional affiliations include, at Vassar College, Carl Bertsche, Peter Czuwala, Larry Doe, Tom Ellman, Luke Hunsberger, Barbara Holloway, Betsy Ketcham, Jason Jones, Josh de Leeuw, Nick Livingston, Marianne Porter, Bradley Richards, Bob Suter, and John Vanderlee; Melina Hale and Mark Westneat at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum; Ann Pabst and Bill McLellan at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington; Matthieu Kemp and Brett Hobson at Nekton Research, Inc.; Farshad Khorrami and Prashanth Krishnamurthy at Farco Technologies, Inc. and New York University; Miriam Ashley-Ross (Wake Forest University), Barbara Block (Stanford University), Hugh Crenshaw (Physicient, Inc.), Shelley Etnier (Butler University), Randy Ewoldt (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Frank Fish (West Chester University), Alice Gibb (Northern Arizona University), Sindre Grotmol (University of Bergen), Mary and Jack Hebrank (Duke University and North Carolina State University), Lena Koob-Emunds (Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory), Doug Pringle (MiMedx Group, Inc.), Fred Schachet (Duke University), Justin Schaefer (University of California, Los Angeles), William “Bart” Shepherd (Steinhart Aquarium), Jim Strother (University of California, Irvine), Adam Summers (University of Washington), and Phil Watts (Applied Fluids Engineering, Inc).

Students have suffered as my minions and coauthors in the BARK (Biomechanics Advanced Research Kitchen), the IRRL (Interdisciplinary Robotics Research Laboratory), the Abyss (Biorobotics and Biomechanics Laboratory), and the Pirate Republic of Pelagia: Kurt Bantilan, Nick Boetticher, Craig Blanchette, Sasha Cavanagh, Annabeth Carroll, Keon Combie, Hayden-William Courtland, Pam Cuce, Megan Cummins, Candido Diaz, Nicole Doorly, Gigi Engel, Carina Frias, Andres Gutierrez, Jonathan Hirokawa, Kira Irving, McKenzie Johnson, Wyatt Korff, Nicole Krenitsky, Nicole Lamb, Adam Lammert, Gianna McArthur, Karen Nipper, David Paul, Sonia Roberts, Greg Rodebaugh, Oren Rosenberg, Hannah Rosenblum, Hassan Sakhtah, Jonathan Seclow, Joe Schumacher, Avery Siciliano, Ben Sinwell, Elise Stickles, Adina Suss, Joshua Sturm, Eamon Twohig, and Stephanie Varga.

My heroes are my teachers. In the department of zoology at Duke University, Professors Steve Wainwright and Steve Vogel, the fathers of comparative biomechanics, taught me the ropes. Professors Fred Nijhout, John Lundberg, Steve Nowicki, Louise Roth, Kathleen Smith, and Vance Tucker deserve part of the blame, as do senior graduate students in the BLIMP and physiology groups: Barbara Block, Hugh Crenshaw, Olaf Ellers, Matt Healy, Anne Moore, Lisa Orton, and Ann Pabst. I wouldn’t have gotten to Duke without Sentiel “Butch” Rommel (College of the Atlantic) and Ted Grand (Smithsonian National Zoological Park), both of whom taught me that deep, genuine enthusiasm for any subject was the spark that lit the mind’s fire.

Friends and family offered encouragement and editorial advice: Paul Callagy and Carolyn Palmer, Mary Ann Cunningham and Tom Finkle, Doug Eaton, Keith and Lisa Fadelici, Kate and Byron Jordan, John Keller, Daniel and Ken Lockhart, Dale Long, Jeb Long, Kate and Joel Nimety, Marty Ronsheim, Jody and Paul Ronsheim, Amy and Lloyd Spencer, Ann and Jeff Staten, Sharon Swartz, Tracy and Joe Troy. Jeff Staten offered trenchant insights in Chapter 1, Adam Lammert was of great help framing Chapter 5, and Charles Pell and Ted Grand made important contributions to Chapter 8.

Some material in this book is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation (grant numbers IOS-0922605, DBI-0442269, BCS-0320764, IOS-9817134). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Some material in this book is based on work supported by the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (grant numbers N00014097-1-0292, N00014-93-1-0594). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Naval Research.

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