Doctor of Philosophy in Quantitative Biosciences
in the School of Biological Sciences
Benjamin Seleb
Will defend his dissertation
The fast and the furriest: phase and amplitude dynamics of collective locomotion in sled dogs
Friday November 21st, 2025
At 1:00pm ET
IBB Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Suddath Seminar Room 1128
Meeting URL: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/95175123913?pwd=ZGSaeeuFbafef32RdLSUyUyeyX7BHx.1
Meeting ID: 951 7512 3913
Thesis Advisors:
Dr. Saad Bhamla
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. William C. Ratcliff
School of Biological Sciences
Georgia Institute of Technology
Committee Members:
Dr. Young-Hui Chang
School of Biological Sciences
Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Zeb Rocklin
School of Physics
Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Heather Huson
Department of Animal Science
Cornell University
Summary/Abstract:
Complex systems, from animal groups to evolving landscapes, exhibit collective behaviors that emerge from local interactions and shared constraints. When those interactions are mediated through physical or environmental coupling, coordination can arise without centralized control or explicit communication. This dissertation explores these interactions through the lenses of locomotion and landscape modification, reaching across biomechanics, nonlinear dynamics, and spatial ecology.
In harnessed animal teams, the interplay between individual locomotion and network geometry offers a window into mechanically coupled coordination and cooperative transport. High-resolution field measurements from racing sled dogs, collected using animal-borne sensors, are used to quantify stride timing, gait variability, and interaction dynamics within the team. These analyses draw from oscillator theory and computational ethology to interpret collective dynamics, revealing a robust system that tolerates individual autonomy.
At the landscape scale, agent-based simulations of grazing animals reveal how individual movement decisions, constrained by energetic cost and resource availability, can reorganize the terrain itself. Through repeated feedback between movement and environment, spatially ordered features emerge from the simple behavioral rules of inconspicuous grazers.
Using a varied toolkit of sensors, theory, and computation, this work shows how coupling and feedback manifest uniquely in collectives across scales. Ironically, whereas the coordinated team hides underlying disorder, haphazard grazers leave behind quiet order.
]]>