Roger Harmon's Profile

Existing man-made machines are mainly composed of hard, metallic components that are unsuitable for handling tissues that are soft and fragile or complex in shape. We seek to incorporate chemistry utilized by marine mussels to develop soft robotic components that can potentially better interface with biological systems.

This project will improve the sustainability of the ship-recycling industry in Bangladesh, where millions of tons of metal are recovered from hundreds of beached container ships, oil tankers, and cruise liners annually. We will investigate how recycled metal flows through the metal smith community in Dhaka, and identify improvements that reduce environmental impacts and maintain social networks.

Metamaterials—artificial materials that exhibit physical properties not seen in nature—could make the magical a reality. In the future, with metamaterials, you could make objects levitate with a laser beam, make yourself vanish, or create a super-lens to turn your smartphone into a high-power microscope.

Do you like bigger and more flavorful blueberries? It's all about berry fruit development. The blueberry yield is positively correlated with the fruit size. While wild blueberries taste better than cultivars, their production yield is only 1/10th of the cultivars. Our objective is to discover fruit microRNAs that can be used for producing bigger blueberries.

We aim to cultivate vegetables with data-driven, climate controlled indoor vertical farming methods.
We challenge the traditional growing seasons and supply chains to ensure the delivery of fresh produce at a commercial scale throughout the year grown in a neighborhood near you.