Kakani Katija

Dr. Kakani Katija is a Principal Engineer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, a Research Associate at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution), and a Visiting Associate Professor in Aerospace at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Originally an Aerospace Engineer (BSc from University of Washington and MSc from Caltech), Kakani received a PhD in Bioengineering from Caltech. As lead of the Bioinspiration Lab, Kakani and her group investigates ways that imaging can enable novel observations of life in the deep sea. By developing imaging and illumination tools (e.g., DeepPIV and EyeRIS), automating the classification of underwater visual data using artificial intelligence (FathomNet), and integrating algorithms on vehicles (ML-Tracking) for robotic vehicle missions (e.g. Mesobot, LRAUV) to consistently and persistently observe ocean life, her group’s efforts will help increase access to biology and related phenomena in the deep sea. Kakani was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2011, a Kavli Research Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013, and a Frontiers of Engineering Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering in 2020. She has received generous funding support for the Bioinspiration Lab’s work from a number of funding organizations including the Packard Foundation, National Geographic Society, NSF, NOAA, Schmidt Ocean Institute, and the Moore Foundation. In her spare time, Kakani, along with her husband and dog, like to roam the outdoors by foot and participate in random sporting events (e.g., figure skating, keg tossing, tobogganing, etc.).