The fluid dynamics of microscopic swimmers

Sperm propulsion is vital to the propagation of much of the animal kingdom, and sperm motility deficiencies are a major cause of human infertility. We focus on the mechanisms by which sperm propel themselves, including capturing flagellar waves experimentally and mathematical/statistical techniques for reducing the complexity of the flagellar wave and associated fluid flow, and interpreting biophysical quantities of interest such as energy expenditure.