ME Professor Caterina Lamuta and ISE Professor Xuan Song are considered among the brightest young minds in their fields.

Lamuta was presented the 2024 Gary Anderson Early Achievement Award this month during the ASME Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures, and Intelligent Systems Conference.

Caterina Lamuta, a University of Iowa assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has received the selective Director’s Fellowship from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to continue development of an underwater robot that mimics the movement of an octopus or squid.

Inspired by her fascination with sea life, a professor is developing a “softopus” that could help the Navy in its underwater missions.

Caterina Lamuta, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will apply her previous research to create an underwater robot designed to have similar motor and textural features to that of an octopus.