Eva Kanso
Zohrab A. Kaprielian Professor in Engineering and Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and Physics and Astronomy
Education
- Doctoral Degree, Mechanical Engineering, University of California - Berkeley
- Master's Degree, Mechanical Engineering, University of California - Berkeley
- Master's Degree, Mathematics, University of California - Berkeley
- Bachelor's Degree, Mechanical Engineering
Biography
Eva Kanso is the Z.A. Kaprielian Professor in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California, with joint appointments in Physics and Astronomy and in Quantitative and Computational Biology in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.Prior to joining USC in 2005, Kanso was a postdoctoral scholar in Computing and Mathematical Sciences at Caltech. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and M.A. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Bachelor of Engineering with distinction from the American University of Beirut.
Kanso served at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Civil, Mechanical & Manufacturing Innovation (2021-2023). She has been a visiting scholar at Princeton University (2004 and 2025-2026), Laboratoire LadHyX at École Polytechnique (2015), the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the Simons Foundation (2016-2017), the Laboratoire de Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes at the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (2021), and at the Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Équilibre at Aix-Marseille Université (2024). She currently serves as a Handling Editor for PNAS Nexus and an Associate Editor for Physical Review Fluids.
Research Summary
At USC, Kanso founded the Bioinspired Motion Lab, where her group studies fundamental problems in the biophysics of cellular and subcellular processes and the physics of animal behavior, at both individual and collective levels. A central theme of her work is how the mechanical environment, particularly fluid-structure interactions, shapes and drives biological function.Kanso's research spans two broad areas: (i) bioinspired aerial and aquatic locomotion, with applications to autonomous and soft robotic systems, engineering design, and collective behavior; and (ii) biophysical modeling of bacterial and ciliary systems, with applications to biomedical flows, active materials, and microfluidic manipulation and transport.
Awards
- 2026 University of Southern California Zohrab A. Kaprielian Professor of Engineering
- 2025 Drexel University Executive Leadership in Academic Technology Engineering and Science (ELATES) Fellow
- 2025 Centre International des Sciences Mécaniques and City of Udine, Italy CISM-Città di Udine Fellowship for the year 2025-2026, Italy
- 2024 University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Senior Research Award
- 2022 Fellow, American Physical Society, Division of Fluid Dynamics
- 2016 University of Southern California Mentoring Award for Faculty Mentoring of Graduate Students
- 2014 American University of Beirut Distinguished Young Alumnus Award
- 2011 University of Southern California Zohrab A. Kaprielian Fellow in Engineering (three consecutive terms; 15 years total)
- 2006 National Science Foundation NSF CAREER Award
- 2002 University of California, Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor
- 1999 Lebanese-American Association (LAA) Lebanese-American Association Scholarship
- 1998 Poage Family Poage Memorial Scholarship
- 1997 University of California, Berkeley UC Regents Three-Year Fellowship (1997-2000)
- 1996 Hariri Foundation, Lebanon Award for Academic Excellence
- 1994 American University of Beirut Dean's Honor List
Appointments
Social Media
- Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
- Physics and Astronomy
- RRB 214
- Robert Glen Rapp Engineering Research Building
- 854 Downey Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089
- USC Mail Code: 1453
- (213) 821-5788
- kanso@usc.edu