Hissing cockroach cyborgs: All in a day’s work for Alper Bozkurt

Dr. Alper Bozkurt is so earnest, eager to share, and gentle in his manner that one wouldn?t necessarily peg him as the star of an international media frenzy. But CNN, El Mundo, Reuters, the Los Angeles Times and others have all sought out the N.C. State assistant professor of electrical engineering and featured his work at N.C. State?s ibionics lab. That?s where he and a team of graduate students turn live Madagascar hissing cockroaches into insect cyborgs that move and work on human command.