Prof. Mitra Hartmann received a Bachelor of Science in Applied and Engineering Physics from Cornell University, and a PhD in Integrative Neuroscience from the California Institute of Technology. She was a postdoctoral scholar at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California in the Bio-Inspired Technology and Systems group, and joined the faculty at Northwestern University in 2003. Prof. Hartmann is presently an Associate Professor at Northwestern with a 50-50 joint appointment between the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.