Welcome and Introductory Comments with Senator Sherrod Brown, Anthony Gillespie, Trisha Brown & Carol Thaler

Creating Pathways for Life Through Nature-Inspired Movement: Taking a cue from the world’s largest land animal, Billy Almon will lead a visual exploration of what travel could be like if our transportation systems – both on earth and in space – mimicked nature-inspired movement.

Since 2013, HyperloopTT has been working to pioneer a new type of transportation, one that is fast, efficient and sustainable with zero operating emissions. We’ll discuss progress to date, lessons learned and how we’ve been inspired by the natural environment and biological systems. We’ll end by posing a challenge to the biomimicry community, since Hyperloop is the ultimate art meets science project, and look forward to workshopping solutions together.

Moderator:
Carol Thaler, Great Lakes Biomimicry

Panelists:
Billy Almon, Biomimicry Institute
Chris Alvarado, Slavic Village Development
Deb Bidwell, College of Charleston Department of Biology

The presentation will highlight nature inspired heat exchangers, resembling fluid transport systems seen in nature. Constructal Law guides us to designs diverging from traditional plate-fin rectangular topologies to fractal systems as first studied by Murry. Per Murray’s Law, there is a functional relationship between the radius of the vessels and volumetric flow and velocity in the system. Our work finds the optimum parameters for high temperature air to air heat exchangers used in aerospace systems.

Presentation will illustrate a vision that, in the future, all underwater infrastructure supporting human life will support aquatic ecosystems symbiotically. GROW Oyster Reefs has products in the water – in the US and UK – that jumpstarts native oyster reefs for their ecosystem services, encouraging species rejuvenation and biodiversity, sequestering carbon, while providing shoreline protection. Nature-based design approach focusing on coastal transportation infrastructure will be discussed.

New ideas in creating sustainable substitutes for carbon fiber based thermoset polymers used in the aerospace industry will be presented. In addition, how ideas from biomimicry allows us to develop new materials such as colors and adhesives for aerospace and transportation industries will be explored.

A brief history of PeTaL, the vision of its place in the biomimicry tool landscape, a demo, and (paid!) ways to get involved.

We often refer to the vastness of the historical eastern North American forest by referencing how a squirrel could jump from tree to tree from Georgia all the way to Maine and southern Canada. What if we seriously considered this reference as a way to inform innovative transportation infrastructure design? This talk presents holistic design proposals, informed by the eastern North American forest as our reference ecosystem, but specifically the study of root architecture and mycelium as bioremediative building material, that broadens the focus of transportation beyond the human species. We consider elements such as, assisted species migration northward in the era of climate change, and movement of water, nutrients, sediments, and pollutants. This case study showcases the possibility of designing multi-functional transportation infrastructure, increasing abiotic and biotic connectivity and movement across landscapes, using biomimicry as a design lens.

This talk will showcase how to use design fiction for ethical innovation and worldbuilding to create preferable futures for all. The presentation addresses a broad audience and is accessible and adaptable across domains (tech, business, design, science, etc.) as well academia and industry. Design fiction and futures-thinking is necessary to rethink the systems and structures that exist and continue to improve quality of life in a sustainable manner.

Leveraging existing knowledge sets and emerging technologies to envision and co-create futures. Using comprehensive thinking to bring together diverse disciplines in service of reshaping narratives of the future of transportation and mobility

redhouse studio’s Phase II NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) with Dr. Lynn Rothschild for off-planet self-assembling structures and how some of the bio-utilitarian processes can be applicable to aerospace transportation.

The presentation will include Bioinspired Design for mobility, based on Studio Designs as well as funded research projects, and program strategies to foster a transition to emission-free transportation in Austria.

Science has has long studied nature and often drawn inspiration for new technologies from it. This talk will look at 10 ways that emerging transportation technologies and techniques will emulate nature to improve.

Richard James MacCowan and Yuning Chen will explore the trans-disciplinary nature of biomimetic materials via novel applications from around the world that relate to transportation systems. This will delve into the possibilities and challenges of applying transformative nature-inspired materials into zero-carbon transportation, energy and moving towards circularity with biodesign. They will look at the development of materials, access to available resources, and how manufacturing has an important role to play in any transformation.

Moderator:
Richard MacCowan, Biomimicry Innovation Lab

Panelists:
Lorenzo Mencatelli, Biomimicry UK
Douglas Ramsey, HYT Advisors
Julian Vincent, Heriot-Watt University

A brief update of this NASA led project and the team working on it.

The Ray is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity and living highway testbed, located on Georgia’s I-85 between LaGrange and the Alabama state line. It begins with an 18-mile stretch of interstate named in honor of Ray C. Anderson (1934-2011), a Georgia native recognized as a leader in green business when he challenged his company, Interface, Inc., to pursue a zero environmental footprint. The Ray Highway is an epiphany of Ray’s legacy by paving the way for a zero carbon, zero waste, zero death highway system to build a safer and more prosperous future for all.

After an intense three days, we will collaboratively wrap-up the conference – looking for common themes, combining ideas to consider and figuring out what could be next.

Ohio Aerospace Institute and
Great Lakes Biomimicry
22800 Cedar Point Road
Brook Park, Ohio 44142