Born in 1952, Biewener began his zoological studies at Duke University in the early 1970s. He then pursued graduate studies in the field of comparative biomechanics, receiving a Master's (1981) and PhD (1982) from Harvard University,[3] studying under the direction of
C. Richard Taylor and Thomas A. McMahon. During his graduate studies, he had the opportunity to collaborate with
R. McNeill Alexander from Leeds University and Lance E. Lanyon from the University of Bristol. In 1982, he joined the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at
The University of Chicago as a faculty member, serving as department chair from 1995 to 1998. In 1998, he returned to Harvard to become the director of the Concord Field Station and a professor of biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology (OEB);[4] he served as OEB's department chair from 2001 to 2010. Biewener was president of the
American Society of Biomechanics from 2001 to 2002.[5]
Research
As a comparative biomechanist, Biewener has studied the scaling of musculoskeletal design in mammals,[6][7] adaptive bone remodeling,[8][9] the in vivo contractile function of skeletal muscles during terrestrial locomotion in birds and mammals[10][11][12] as well as during flight in birds,[13][14][15] and the neuromechanical control of locomotor movement.[16][17][18] The latter has involved collaborations with biorobotic engineers.[19][20] His research has also involved experimental validation and development of Hill-type muscle models,[21][22][23] commonly used in musculoskeletal modeling and simulations of movement to improve rehabilitation approaches for human subjects following physical injury or disease.
^Biewener, Andrew A.; Swartz, Sharon M.; Bertram, John E. A. (November 1986). "Bone modeling during growth: Dynamic strain equilibrium in the chick tibiotarsus". Calcified Tissue International. 39 (6): 390–395.
doi:
10.1007/BF02555177.
ISSN0171-967X.
PMID3100003.
S2CID36683656.
^Biewener, A. A.; Fazzalari, N. L.; Konieczynski, D. D.; Baudinette, R. V. (July 1996). "Adaptive changes in trabecular architecture in relation to functional strain patterns and disuse". Bone. 19 (1): 1–8.
doi:
10.1016/8756-3282(96)00116-0.
PMID8830980.
^Dial, K. P.; Biewener, A. A.; Tobalske, B. W.; Warrick, D. R. (November 1997). "Mechanical power output of bird flight". Nature. 390 (6655): 67–70.
doi:
10.1038/36330.
ISSN0028-0836.
S2CID4313362.