Daniel Ivan Goldman (born January 24, 1972) is an experimental physicist regarded for his research on the biomechanics of animal locomotion within complex materials.
Goldman is currently a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics, where he holds a Dunn Family Professorship.
He did postdoctoral work in locomotion biomechanics at the University of California at Berkeley until 2006 when he joined the faculty of Georgia Institute of Technology in 2007.
His research addresses problems in non-equilibrium systems that involve interaction of physical and biological matter with complex materials (like granular media) that can flow when stressed.
For example, how do organisms like lizards, crabs, and cockroaches generate appropriate musculoskeletal dynamics to scurry rapidly over substrates like sand, bark, leaves, and grass.