Rate My Professor John Long

John Howard Long is Professor of Biology and Professor and Chair of Cognitive Science on the John Guy Vassar Chair of Natural History at Vassar College, where he has served on the faculty since 1991. He holds a BA from the College of the Atlantic and a PhD from Duke University. As Director of the Interdisciplinary Robotics Research Laboratory, Long conducts research at the intersection of robotics, biomechanics, and the locomotor evolution of early vertebrates. A vertebrate physiologist specializing in biomechanics, his work employs robots to investigate animal locomotion and evolving robots to explore evolutionary processes. This integrative approach draws on biomechanics, biomathematics, cognitive science, computer science, engineering, evolutionary biology, and robotics. Long has secured research grants from the National Science Foundation, including an INSPIRE award, and the Office of Naval Research. His laboratory collaborates with students and researchers from Vassar College, Lafayette College, the University of Vermont, the University of California, the University of North Carolina, Nekton Research, Duke University, and Shriners Hospital for Children. Vassar undergraduates have co-authored publications and presented the lab's findings at international scientific meetings.