Francois Barthelat

I am a Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. I was mainly trained at the intersection between mechanical engineering and materials science, but my research led me to also to doing a bit of biology. My interest is on the mechanics of deformation and fracture in biological materials and how these mechanisms can be duplicated in new, bioinspired engineering materials. I have worked on seashells, bone, teeth, fish scales and recently fish fins. In parallel my students and I have developed new types of toughened glass inspired by seashells, flexible protective gloves inspired by fish scales, and more recently robotic materials inspired by fish fins.