Victor Ortega Jiménez with computer projection in background

Research Bio

Victor Ortega Jiménez is an assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Biology. His research focuses on the effect produced by perturbed flows, static electricity, and capillary forces on organismal dynamics. He studies animals moving in such complex flows as rain, waterfalls, turbulent flows, thermal convection, and fluid interfaces. I am also interested in the effects produced by electrical and capillary forces on small animals. This multidisciplinary area combines physiology, fluid dynamics, mathematics, and engineering, and has deep biological implications on ecological processes, and evolutionary biology. Moreover, its applications in technology include the design of bio-inspired robots with the capacity to move over unpredictable and multicomponent environments.

Research Expertise and Interest

electrical and capillary forces on small animals, evolutionary biology, bio-inspired robotics

In the News

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.
March 12, 2025
Rachel Nuwer

“The birds looked beautiful, but the big question for me was, ‘What’s happening with the hydrodynamic mechanisms involved in flamingos’ filter feeding?’” said Victor Ortega-Jiménez, an assistant professor of integrative biology.

Teaching

Courses taught during the three most recent terms
2026 Spring
  • Comparative Animal Physiology  [INTEGBI 148]  

  • Directed Undergraduate Research  [INTEGBI 191]  

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [INTEGBI 199]  

  • Special Study in Integrative Biology  [INTEGBI 298]  

  • Graduate Research  [INTEGBI 299]  

  • Supervised Independent Study and Research  [INTEGBI 99]  

  • Thesis Course  [INTEGBI H196A]  

  • Thesis Course  [INTEGBI H196B]  

  • Supervised Research: Biological Sciences  [UGIS 192C]  

2025 Fall
  • Comparative and Human Biomechanics  [INTEGBI 135]  

  • Special Study in Integrative Biology  [INTEGBI 298]  

  • Graduate Research  [INTEGBI 299]  

  • Supervised Research: Biological Sciences  [UGIS 192C]  

2025 Spring
  • Special Study in Integrative Biology  [INTEGBI 298]  

  • Supervised Research: Biological Sciences  [UGIS 192C]