Daehyun Choi

Daehyun Choi

Postdoctoral Researcher  ·  Georgia Institute of Technology

Fluid Mechanics  ·  Animal Behavior  ·  Bioinspired Engineering  ·  Soft Robotics  ·  Physical AI

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I am a postdoctoral researcher working with Prof. M. Saad Bhamla at the BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder. I earned my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University in 2022, advised by Prof. Hyungmin Park (Best Ph.D. Thesis Award) for fluid mechanics, and subsequently joined Ajou University as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Daeshik Kang (2022–2023) before joining the Bhamla Lab at Georgia Tech, relocating with the lab to CU Boulder in 2026. My research lies at the intersection of bioinspired propulsion, vortex dynamics, fluid–structure interaction (FSI), and machine-learning-based flow diagnostics — aimed at decoding the fluid physics of biological locomotion and translating those principles into next-generation propulsion, soft robots, and physical AI systems. This research has been supported by ~$700k in competitive grants, including DARPA and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

Research Interests

  • Fluid mechanics
  • Bioinspired propulsion and locomotion
  • Fluid-structure interaction and vortex dynamics
  • Vision AI
  • Multi-fidelity & multi-objective data-driven optimization
  • Multiphase flows
  • Physical AI
  • Soft robotics

→ See research projects

Awards & Grants

  • Emerging Scholar Best Paper Prize, J. Fluid Mech., Cambridge University Press (2025)
  • DARPA Young Faculty Award — technical leader ($500k) (2024)
  • Robert M. Nerem International Travel Award, Georgia Tech (2024)
  • Young Researcher Travel Award, IUTAM Symposium on Capillarity and Elastocapillarity in Biology (2024)
  • Sejong International Postdoctoral Fellowship ($140k), NRF Korea (2023)
  • Best Ph.D. Thesis Award, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University (2022)
  • Domestic Postdoctoral Scholarship ($50k), NRF Korea (2022)
  • BK21+ Doctoral Scholarship ($10k), Ministry of Education, Korea (2016)
  • Presidential Scholarship for Undergraduates ($30k), Korea (2015)
  • 1st Prize, EDISON Challenge (CFD contest), Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Korea (2014)

News

Sep. 2026 📄 arXiv preprint submitted: "Swim-and-breach at palm scale: a rudder-steered two-propeller underwater robot platform"
Jun. 2026 📄 arXiv preprint submitted: "Multi-objective Bayesian optimization of rigid and flexible nozzles for energy-efficient pulsed jet propulsion"
Jun. 2026 🏔️ Relocated to the BioFrontiers Institute, CU Boulder with the Bhamla Lab
May 2026 📄 arXiv preprint submitted: "Squid-inspired soft superpropulsion"
May 2026 📄 arXiv preprint submitted: "Elastic wave propagation governs impulse enhancement in pulsed jets through flexible nozzles"
Jan. 2026 🎤 Three oral presentations at SICB 2026 — mudskipper hydrodynamics (symposium), squid-inspired flexible nozzles
Jan. 2026 📄 Paper accepted in Integr. Comp. Biol.: "Three-Dimensional Tracking Method for Water-Hopping Mudskippers in Natural Habitats"
Nov. 2025 🎤 Four presentations at APS-DFD 78th Annual Meeting, Houston — nozzle wave dynamics, 3D PTV, multi-fidelity thrust modeling
Apr. 2025 🏆 Emerging Scholar Best Paper Prize (Top 10), Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Cambridge University Press