Meeting Abstract
Lessons learned from nature inspire engineers to develop new technologies for many real-world applications. This requires engineers to study biological systems, often in collaboration with biologists, to better understand the complexity of natural systems and their functions. This is often easier said than done. The high variability among biological systems (which never grow exactly alike) and limited access (many organisms are protected or difficult to obtain) can make studying the mechanics of biological systems a tedious and sometimes impossible task. However, new technologies, like 3D-printing, allow researchers to mimic biological designs, and even build comparative hypothetical models of designs not found in nature. Using these techniques, engineers have begun to test biological hypotheses in the lab and develop new design paradigms to describe biology within the realm of engineering principles. In a new course at Clemson University, titled Biomimetics and Bioinspired Design, natural design paradigms in biological materials, structures, and organisms are described in the context of mechanical engineering topics, ranging from statics and dynamics to materials science and fluid mechanics. In this talk, I will outline the design paradigms taught in the course and describe how, as mechanical engineers, students respond to a diverse range of topics in biology and transfer their knowledge between disciplines.
