- The FASt Lab is looking for PhD StudentsThe Fluids and Adaptive Structures Lab (FASt) at the University of Florida is currently looking to hire PhD students interested in the adaptive structures, embedded smart materials, and fluid-structure interactions. Potential projects are in the area of 1) Bio-inspired Underwater Robotics and 2) Morphological Computation of Aeroelastic Structures.
PI
Dr. Patrick Musgrave
Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department
Contact Info
- Office: NEB 561
- Lab: MAE-A 120
- Email: pmusgrave@ufl.edu
Education
- Ph.D. (Mechanical Engineering), Virginia Tech, 2018
- BSc (Physics) & BSE (Mechanical Engineering), University of Pittsburgh, 2012
Dr. Musgrave is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Florida. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech, and prior to joining UF he was a research scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory. Dr. Musgrave has been recognized with the AFOSR Young Investigator award (YIP), NSF CAREER award, DAAD Study Scholarship, and as a Rising Star by the Academy of Science, Engineering, & Medicine of Florida.
PhD Students
Isabel Hess
Education:
MS, University of Florida, 2022
BS, University of Florida, 2019
Joined FASt Lab: Fall 2021
Shan He
Education:
MS, University of Florida, 2022
BS, University of Florida, 2020
Joined FASt Lab: Spring 2022
Brandon Schrader
Education:
MS, Kennesaw State University, 2023
BS, Florida State University, 2022
Joined FASt Lab: Fall 2024
MD Mohiuddin
Education:
BS, KUET, Bangladesh, 2023
Joined FASt Lab: Fall 2025
Masters Students
Richard Lai
Joined FASt Lab: Spring 2025
Michael Milligan
Joined FASt Lab: Fall 2025
Davis Liu
Joined FASt Lab: Fall 2025
Undergraduate Researchers
- Henry Kanfer
- Trevor Yates
- David Rigali
- Cale Weldon
- Kevin Rubin
- Julien Waite
- Drew Theophilopolous
- Emi Sanchez
- Michael Salemi
- Aleksandar Fecteau
- Ayla Sevilleno
- Dane Houder
- Jason Torres
- Juan Lupi
- Ruben Gonzalez-Vera
- Nicholas Kottas
- Azarias Sime
- Gloria Martinez
- Agustin Zurlo
Lab Alumni
Masters
- Kevin Soto (2025), MS Thesis: “Nebula v2: A soft robotic swimmer with independent axially distributed muscles and embedded kinematic sensing”
- Miguel Perilla (2023), MS Thesis: “Stiffness Variation of a Bio-inspired Propulsor due to Localized In-plane Forcing”
Bachelors
- Tristan Jackson (2025)
- Isabella Lantzy (2025)
- Fabio Savino (2025), Honors Thesis: “Frequency Amplification of HASEL Actuator Energy Harvesting”
- Tin Sulenta (2025), Honors Thesis: “Underwater Acoustics of HASEL Actuators”
- Nicolas Jacobellis (2024), Honors Thesis: “Design Analysis of a Bio-inspired Propulsor with a High Aspect Ratio Tail”
- Alec Feller (2024)
- Francisco Antunez (2023)
- Jacob Zecher (2023), Honors Thesis: “Higher Resonant Frequency Excitation in a Bio-inspired Propulsor”
- Dimitri Medina (2023)
- Matthew Nguyen (2023)
- Jessica Le (2022), Honors Thesis: “Characterizing the Step Response of a Peano-HASEL Actuator Loaded in Bending”