My name is Alexander Alvara and I began my PhD in Mechanical Engineering in the Fall of 2018. I am co-Advised by Prof. Pister and Prof. Lin and joined the BAMLAB in January of 2020 (the year of the plague… and the brushfires… and the floods… and the blast… and Floyd, Taylor, … the list is too long).

I am the lead researcher on the…

1. Quadrupedal Silicon Walker project, working to get a fully autonomous walking quadrupedal (and other legged) robot up and running, pun intended.
2. Self-Righting project, working to figure out micro-actuator solutions to the question of, “what happens when a microrobot falls over in the forest and no one hears it?”
3. MEMS Microrocket project, working to get a fully autonomous high-maneuverability crayon sized (fav flavor: forest green) rocket. Here I also lead a group of undergrads (undergrads #3 to #12 in the members list) in developing innovative designs applied to the mini and micro scale rockets.
4. BLISS project, where I am a key contributor in the development of a highly-functional micro-scale solution to satellites.

I also work on…

1. Ionocraft project, where I am testing new possible designs and manufacturing solutions for the electrohydrodynamic micro-drone.
2. Fiber crawler project, where I am implementing concepts for variable stiffness and thickness fiber crawling.

I enjoy rest, relaxation, and restorative justice in all aspects of life.

A little about me: I come from a large family, grew up mostly in California, worked in construction, dropped out of high-school, have 3 BS degrees from UC Irvine (earned concurrently), and have worked in pediatric surgical robotics with the Hospital for Sick Kids, as well as worked at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the Center for Functional Nanomaterials… oh and I also enjoy coffee.