John received his BS in Chemistry from UMASS Boston, and his PhD in Chemistry from Princeton University. After working at the Polaroid Corporation for nearly a decade, he then served as tenured full professor at UMASS Boston and Lowell (Chemistry and Plastics Engineering). In 2007 he founded the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, LLC (A research organization developing green chemistry technologies) where he serves as President and Chief Technology Officer, and Beyond Benign (a non-profit dedicated to sustainability and green chemistry education). He is one of the founders of the field of Green Chemistry, co-authoring the defining text Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice with Paul Anastas. He has published over 200 patents, papers and books. His recent work in the fields of semiconductor design, biodegradable plastics, personal care products, solar energy and polymeric photoresists are examples of how green chemistry principles can be immediately incorporated into commercially relevant applications. Warner received The 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Mentoring, the American Institute of Chemistry's Northeast Division's Distinguished Chemist of the Year for 2002 and the Council of Science Society President’s 2008 Leadership award. Warner was named by ICIS as one of the most influential people impacting the global chemical industries in 2008.

Presentation

Mike Chamberlain is the Manager of Innovation for the Guest Experience at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In this capacity, he is responsible for identifying, developing and implementing initiatives that enhance the onsite visitor experience at the aquarium. He has worked for the aquarium for the last 13 years, where he has overseen public education efforts since 1998. Before that, he worked at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, where he managed the school programs department. Mike began his career at the Kohl Children’s Museum, located just outside of Chicago, where he worked for 8 years developing school programs, designing exhibits, and eventually serving as the general manager.

Mike is active in the zoo and aquarium community, serving on the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s Board of Regents for 7 years (and as board chair in 2006); this group is responsible for the professional development and training programs for the association. Mike also served as an instructor in the week-long accredited course “Conservation Education: Effective Program Design”, in which students learned the hallmarks of crafting successful programs. Mike also serves on the board of directors for the children’s museum in Monterey, and is the chair of that museum’s exhibits committee.

Presentation, Panel: Perspectives on Youth and Nonformal Education

Jamie is a Biologist at the Design Table for the Biomimicry Group. Biomimicry has been the perfect opportunity to bring together Jamie’s seemingly divergent interest in the fields of biology and architectural design. Her work for the Biomimicry Group is currently focused on facilitating biomimicry in the built environment and helping designers integrate biology into any level of their designs. Her client involvement often includes finding biological strategies to solve design challenges and then helping designer innovate and emulate these strategies through biomimicry design charrettes. Overall, Jamie seeks to transform the design framework by empowering designers with the tools and ethos of biomimicry.

Jamie holds a Master of Architecture and B.A. degrees in Environmental Design and Environmental Biology. She is also a graduate of the Biomimicry Professional Certification Program.

Presentation

Dr. Frank Fish has been on the faculty of West Chester University since 1980. He received a B.A. in Biology from SUNY Oswego in 1975. He completed a M.Sc. in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1980 from the Zoology Department of Michigan State University

Dr. Fish has published over 90 research articles, government reports, patents, and book chapters. He has served as chairperson of his department and was the chairperson of the Division of Vertebrate Morphology of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. He is currently an associate editor for the journal Marine Mammal Science, and he served on the editorial board of the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.

Dr. Fish's research is focused on the energetics and hydrodynamics of aquatic locomotion by vertebrates. He has been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research. Recent projects have included examinations of the evolution of swimming modes in aquatic mammals, energetics and maneuverability of aquatic animals, hydrodynamic design of biological control surfaces, and analysis of manta swimming for biomimetic AUV design.

Dr. Fish has appeared on the PBS series Evolution, the BBC production Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, which was broadcast on the Discovery Channel, Predator X, which was broadcast on the History Channel, and he has been featured on the science television show Daily Planet, which was broadcast on the Discovery Channel Canada.

Dr. Fish is the president of the WhalePower corporation that is attempting to design windmills, fans, pumps and compressors utilizing the tubercle leading edge of the humpback whale flipper.

Presentation: Whales, windmills and wings that go bump in the night

Holly Harlan, an entrepreneur, engineer, and economic and business development specialist for 30 years, works with entrepreneurial leaders from business, government and non-profit organizations to implement sustainable business strategies that drive new opportunities and triple bottom line benefits for their organizations, stakeholders and the regions they serve. From the beginning of her career as an engineer with GE and John Deere, she has been trained as a change agent. Today she helps leaders discover and implement new opportunities to thrive through the lens of sustainability and whole-systems design.

From 2000-2010 Holly founded and led the Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S), an award winning economic development non-profit in Northeast Ohio whose mission is to grow sustainable regional economies that affirm and sustain life for all. Holly and E4S are nationally recognized as network-builders, subject-matter experts, and project catalysts in the sustainable business world. The E4S Connect, Learn, Do Sustainability strategy has resulted in a growing network of over 10,000 entrepreneurial leaders from all sectors who are putting sustainability to work for their organizations and the NEO region. Today Holly is sharing what she learned about putting sustainability to work with businesses and organizations across the nation.

Presentation

Ilaria Mazzoleni holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Polytechnic of Milano, Italy, and a Master of Building Science from the University of Southern California School of Architecture in Los Angeles. Since 2004 she has been a full-time faculty member in Design and Applied Studies at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles. She teaches seminars and design studios in the undergraduate and graduate programs and serves as a graduate thesis advisor. Ilaria Mazzoleni co-founded and coordinates the annual Milano study-abroad program, Design Is One, for SCI-Arc students.

Issues related to sustainable architecture and building technologies at all design scales are topics that she has explored over the past 15 years in her professional and academic career. In the past 5 years, the focus of her research office, im studio mi/la, has centered on Biomimicry, innovation in architecture inspired by nature, she has participated to many international conference presenting her professional and academic work. The work of her students on Biomimetic Envelopes has been published on the February issue of DOMUS.

Her work has been shown in Europe, Asia, and the United States and recently exhibited at La Triennale Museo del Design in Milano. Additionally, Ilaria has written extensively on the interrelationships between the built environment and nature. She is a regular contributor to Abitare magazine online with the her column “out in the city.”

Presentation

Peter is currently the interim director of the interdisciplinary PhD program, Integrated Bioscience, at UA. He teaches introductory and advanced courses in ecology and evolution and has active research projects in amphibian population dynamics and physiology, as well as lizard life history ecology and evolution. In 2008 he teamed up with a material scientist colleague who was already working on creating synthetic mimics of gecko adhesive toepads. Since then, continued research collaborations focused on the biology of gecko adhesion have not only extended his work with gecko adhesion, but also pushed the biomimicry paradigm back into his teaching and outreach. Peter and Doug Paige of The Cleveland Institute of Art are creating a partnership between CIA and UA to provide undergraduate and graduate training in biomimicry.

Panel 1: Biology + Design

Doug has been teaching Industrial Design at CIA since 1998, with a focus on problem solving methodology. Doug has been incorporating sustainability into the curriculum since 2000. Projects have included collaborations with local organizations to bring together students and the community for special projects including Cleveland Public Art urban bike racks, APOC furniture from deconstructed houses, and Cuyahoga County Planning Commission to explore biomimicry as a methodology for studying the Cuyahoga River bulkheads and fish health. Doug spent 17 years with Thomson Consumer Electronics and consulting firms in California and Ohio, designing products from computer equipment and hi-tech luggage to day cruise ships. Doug has been a contributing author for three publications: Managing as Designing, Process Materials and Measurements – design resource book, and Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative "Watercraft." Passions include kayaking, design, and the art of fermentation beverages

Panel 1: Biology + Design

Karen earned her B.S. in Biology from Murray State University. She began her career at the Marine Science Institute as an Instructor in January 2003. She became Ship Program Manager in September 2006. Karen manages all MSI ship and canoe programs. She has also been involved in the coordination of MSI’s Summer Marine Camp. Karen is an outdoor enthusiast, enjoying hiking, camping, gardening, scuba diving, and rock climbing.

Dorna Schroeter has been the coordinator of the P/NW BOCES Center for Environmental Education since 1982. This program serves some 42,000 students from schools in six counties in NYS. CEE’s programs are diverse, they include: student programs at the program’s nature center, in-school programs at local schools; environmental kits; a summer science and adventure camp; professional development workshops; and marine ecology programs on Cape Cod for elementary groups and in the Florida Keys for middle and high school students.

Most recently she has been working with the schools to support their efforts toward developing a K-12 sustainability education curriculum. To that end, she co-founded of the Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation and coordinates both student and teacher workshops to support this effort. For the past 3 years she has been working with the Biomimicry Institute’s and serves as an advisor to their education program. In 2008 summer she organized the first ever Biomimicry kid’s camp. And just this month, she submitted a children’s book on biomimicy to a local publisher which should be available next year. This summer she is organizing a 3-day biomimicry workshop in New York. She is also a board member of BioDreamMachine.

Dorna has served on several boards, taught graduate-level courses, and authored many articles. She is a diver and spends as much time under tropical turquoise water as she can.

Panel: Perspectives on Youth and Nonformal Education

Adrian is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in biology from Arizona State University (ASU) and serves as the biology instructor for the two-year Biomimicry Professional Certification Program. He has a B.S. in biology from Florida State University. He researches the communication and behavior of ants and is generally interested in behavioral biology. Adrian is involved with InnovationSpace at ASU, which is a senior level interdisciplinary product design class utilizing biomimicry. He also helped organize a biomimicry symposium entitled Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design, which was held at ASU in 2010.

Panel 1: Biology + Design

Christopher Viney was born in England. He attended elementary and high school in South Africa, where he was introduced to some of Nature's remarkable lessons. He earned BA and PhD degrees in Metallurgy & Materials Science at the University of Cambridge. His subsequent career included faculty appointments at the University of Washington (MS&E and Bioengineering), the University of Oxford (Materials), Heriot-Watt University (Chemistry) and UC Merced (Engineering), as well as a Visiting Scientist appointment at IBM. He is one of UC Merced’s Founding Faculty, and has also served the campus as Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of College One. He is extensively involved in K-14 educational outreach, relying on biomimicry to start conversations, focus attention, catalyze ideas, and stimulate continued interest in school. In his “spare time”, Christopher dabbles in history and music, and is achieving some success as a professional photographer.

Natural Teachers – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Panel: Perspectives on Youth and Nonformal Education

Jeannette is the Director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Biologically Inspired Design. Along with co-directors Marc Weissburg, Craig Tovey, Bert Bras and Ashok Goel, the Center brings together a group of interdisciplinary biologists, engineers and physical scientists who seek to facilitate research and education for innovative products and techniques based on biologically-inspired design solutions. (Watch Jeannette's TEDx@GT talk on Biologically Inspired Design for Interdisciplinary Education.) The participants of Georgia Tech’s Center for Biologically-Inspired Design believe that science and technology are increasingly hitting the limits of approaches based on traditional disciplines, and Biology may serve as an untapped resource for design methodology, with concept-testing having occurred over millions of years of evolution. Experiencing the benefits of Nature as a source of innovative and inspiring principles encourages us to preserve and protect the natural world rather than simply to harvest its products.

Jeannette Yen’s Ph.D. is in biological oceanography where she studies how fluid mechanical and chemical cues transported at low Re flow serve as communication channels for aquatic organisms, primarily plankton: the base of aquatic food webs. She is a Professor in the School of Biology and has been at the Georgia Institute of Technology since 2000.

Presentation, Panel 1: Biology + Design