Getting Mother Nature to Open Up

MULTIDISCIPLINARY

RESEARCHERS ARE increasingly looking to nature for solutions to problems and templates for designs. Critters and plants ranging from houseflies and spinach to barnacles and cockroaches are under study by engineers and scientists hoping to unlock the secrets of their survival and put the answers to use in creating new technologies, processes and materials. That's the idea behind the new Center for Biologically Inspired Design (CBID) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The CBID is the creation of an interdisciplinary group of scientists and engineers who believe that nature can help solve many human problems. "Georgia Tech is a great place to do this kind of research. It provides engineers who want to apply their expertise with biologists a new way to design solutions to problems," explains Jeannette Yen, CBID director and professor of biology. The group members are encouraged to work with one another in biomimetic research, or biologically inspired design. Projects already underway include efforts by mechanical engineer Minami Yoda to develop an auditory retina based on a fish ear. Ken Sandhage, a materials science and engineering professor, is working with Nils Kroger, an assistant professor of biochemistry, to study nanostructure synthesis using the marine diatom, which is a microscopic, one-celled algae. And systems engineer Craig Tovey is studying the foraging skills of honeybees to help design Web-hosting optimization techniques. -TG

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Mar 2006
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