Biewener received his bachelor of science inzoology degree from Duke University and got hismasters and Ph.D at Harvard. After graduating, hebegan his tenure at the University of Chicago.
Biewener has published a number of notableresearch articles in his field. His articles haveconsidered the effects of locomotor posture on thebiomechanics of support and the energetic costs oflocomotion.
More recent papers in Nature and the Journal ofExperimental Biology have looked at the mechanicalrequirements of force and power outputs by musclesin hopping wallabies and in the flight of birds.
Biewener's work in the past has been concernedwith the influence of broad aspects ofsize-related design of the muscle-skeletal systemin vertebrates regarding locomotion as well as themanner in which skeletal tissues respondadaptively to changes in functional demand.
He now looks forward to moving in the newdirection of looking at how muscles function inpowering the mechanical requirements of movementin animals in motion.
Biewener's appointment is effective July 1, andhis first class will be offered next fall. WithProfessor A.W. Crompton, he will teach Biology 21:"Structure and Physiology of Vertebrates.