Barbar Akle is an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and the assistant provost of the Lebanese American University (LAU). He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech. His main research is focused on improving, modeling, and characterizing Electro-Active Polymers (EAP) that are also known as artificial muscles.
His work led to better understanding of Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMC) and to the development of applications such as robotic jellyfish, wall shear stress sensors, and currently working on developing Inner Ear Hair Cell sensors for the hearing disabled and highly efficient buoyancy engines. Recently, he is leading a new research to develop a low cost and healthy exoskeleton system for the paralyzed and working with CERN to develop magnetic field resistant robots. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed international articles and authored 5 US patents.