Speed networking at the Summit

Last weekend, biomimicry educators from across North America and beyond gathered to learn new biomimicry skills and teaching techniques, network with their peers, and listen to an array of amazing and inspiring talks by biomimicry educators, inventors, and entrepreneurs. Over 80 educators gathered in Portland, OR, for the Biomimicry Education Summit, our 6th annual such event.

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle, kicked things off with an opening address the evening of June 21. The event was open to the public, and Rich spoke to a full house at the lovely Bagdad Theater and Pub. We collaborated with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry’s Science Pub team on the event in order to reach the broadest audience possible.

For the next two-and-a-half days we took one of Rich’s key messages to heart and painted a hopeful vision of what a healthy and sustainable world might look like – a biomimetic vision to inspire young people more commonly steeped in desperate environmental news and dystopian fiction. Samuel Cochran, co-founder and CEO of SMIT, talked about his start as a biomimicry inventor while still a student, his first product Solar Ivy, and how his company has evolved and continued to innovate sustainable technologies since its founding.

Biomimicry Fellows Marjan Eggermont and Raul de Villafranca conducting research during the education panel

Following Sam’s inspirational story, we heard from a wide range of educators who are influencing the next generation of biomimicry innovators, including: Dr. John Crowe, Professor Emeritus at UC-Davis, whose work has led to several preservation technologies inspired by tardigrades and other anhydrobiotic creatures; Kiersten Muenchinger and Dr. Kelly Sutherland of University of Oregon, who individually piloted unique biomimicry courses involving a motion analysis lab; and Dr. Ashok Goel, co-director of the Center for Biologically Inspired Design at Georgia Tech, who introduced pedagogical techniques, computational tools such as DANE, and assessment techniques that Georgia Tech has been using in K-12 science education and college-level engineering education.

With every speaker, we more fully realized the potential for biomimicry to impact and be applied to every professional field. A panel of youth educators talked about everything from introducing biomimicry to the K-3 crowd to engaging kids in biomimicry through school science fairs to developing biomimicry signs for local natural history centers or trails. Dr. Mariappan “Jawa” Jawaharlal from Cal Poly Pomona talked about the importance of biomimicry in STEM education, Michelle Fehler of ASU shared important lessons learned from applying biomimetic principles to the field of graphic design, and our own Tim McGee shared insights from the research he’s been conducting into how place-based information is gathered, used, and applied.

Networking at the Summit

Dr. Lloyd Watts, co-founder and chief scientist at Audience, Inc., rocked the room with his final keynote, sharing a rich biological story of how the human cochlea and brain function, woven together with his unique personal story as an inventor and entrepreneur. Dr. Watt’s two-microphone noise reduction system for smart phones was created with a technology developed by reverse-engineering the human auditory pathway. The fact that it took him 35 years to go from his first auditory insights to starting a multi-million dollar company should encourage young biomimicry inventors throughout our network. For a lesson on how the human hearing system works, and how it was applied to cell phone noise reduction, view this video lessonby Dr. Watts.

Please consider joining us in Boston in summer 2013 for the next gathering of this committed and creative group. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing where this particular flock of educators flies in the coming year!