Megan Valentine joined the UCSB faculty in 2008 as an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University in 2003.  Before coming to UCSB, she completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology at Stanford University under the sponsorship of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund through a Career Award at the Scientific Interface. She is an expert in the development and use of novel techniques for the nanoscale characterization of biological materials. Her current research focuses on how molecular motors and cytoskeletal polymers generate force and sustain tension in cells.