Events

Welcome to the Events Weblog!

2010/09/17 Please see post on the migration of data from this weblog to a new website.

This Weblog is sponsored by the Biomimicry Institute and is intended to announce time-sensitive activities related to Biomimicry.  You are encouraged to comment on any entry through the Comments field in the trailer of each post.  TypePad asks for an e-mail address which will be publicly visible to visitors of the Weblog.  Many people set up e-mail accounts on Yahoo or Hotmail specifically for this purpose, in case the e-mail gets SPAMed.

Contributions to this Weblog are greatly appreciated!  You can post a comment to the Guest Contributions entry - I will periodically review the comments and create Events posts, giving credit to the original contributor.

Thanks, Norbert Hoeller

New Location for Biomimicry Events

As part of the re-launch of the BioInspired! Newsletter, the associated website consolidates the BioInspired! newsletter archive, the original BioInspired e-magazine, resources  and events.  The new website supports an events calendar, improved tagging, rating of posts and a better search capabilities.

Please update your bookmarks - in a few months, this weblog will be discontinued.

Dec. 14-18/2010: Welcome to ROBIO 2010 (Tianjin, China)

Welcome to ROBIO 2010.

The 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO2010) is to provide a forum for researchers in the interdisciplinary areas of robotics and biomimetics to disseminate their latest research results. The theme of ROBIO2010 is “Robotics and Biomimetics for Human Science and Engineering”.

Important Dates:

• July 23        Submission of original PDF full papers
• Oct. 1         Notification of paper acceptance
• Oct. 15       Submission of final IEEE PDF papers 
• Dec. 14-18  ROBIO 2010 Conference

Sept. 22/1010 Prospects of BIONICS for Functional Material Science and Engineering

Seminare - Prospects of BIONICS for Functional Material Science and Engineering.

"Bionics is just on its transition from basic science to first promising applications in technology. In particular the synthesis/construction of novel materials with multifunctional properties based on ideas from nature is thought to be one of the key future application fields of Bionics. This workshop aims at exploring the potential of Bionic Materials Research in Austria by bringing together scientists from Universities, Research Centers and Companies. Topics to be discussed include:

• Hierarchical structuring
• Sensing and Actuation
• Self-healing
• Automotion

The workshop program comprises 8 invited lectures from international experts and 12 short lectures from participants."

The conference will be held at the University of Leoben, Austria.

Thanks to George Jeronimidis and the Biomimetics mailing list for the pointer!

July 5–16/2010: Schumacher College: Complex Systems, Stories of Place and Regenerative Design

Schumacher College: Complex Systems, Stories of Place and Regenerative Design.

"We are all becoming aware of the need to understand our world systemically: we should not separate out the parts and work with them in isolation. In the world of design, building and community planning, this insight translates into the awareness that we should try to understand and integrate all the living systems that make up a place – the resident community, the affected ecosystems, and other human stakeholder groups. They all need to be oriented towards the common purpose that human settlements and activities should contribute to the health of the living places of which they are a part.

This fundamental new practice can be seen as a way of embodying Gaia theory in a design context and is known in some parts of the world as regenerative design. It requires practitioners to combine theory and practice to ask: What is the unique potential in this living system or community and how can this be realised? This course will explore this question by introducing participants to a range of techniques such as pattern recognition and collaborative thinking. Guest lecturers will bring other design practices to the dialogue to offer counterpoint and contrast to this fascinating area of work.

The renowned scientist E.O. Wilson has pointed out that “If you save the living environment, it automatically will save the physical environment. If you just save the physical environment (as we’ve come to understand it), we’ll lose both”. Regenerative design draws on a host of other disciplines (such as permaculture and integrative design), and has been successfully used in communities such as Gaviotas and Curitiba. It is applicable to both urban and rural communities and can be a hugely motivating process, allowing collaboration across difference towards a unifying whole."

The course is offered as a one- or two-week course.   The first week taught by Ben Haggard and Bill Rees covers the "process of systemic thinking, engagement and design".  The second week taught by Bill Reed and Michael Pawlyn applies the concepts to a local design project. 

July 16/2010: Biomimicry: a Beacon of Light for Today's Innovative Educations

"Looking for a way to get your students attention and get them thinking using 21st Century skills?  Ask them to explain the connection between a moth's eye and a cell phone screen or, the connection between the blue morpho butterfly and fabric. 

Through the 7-hour on-line course, teachers will learn what biomimicry is and how it contrasts with other biologically-related technologies; how biomimicry is a promising approach to technological innovation and sustainability; why students find the topic of biomimicry so compelling and relevant to their lives; as well as various approaches to teaching the subject to students.

During the 8-hour hands-on workshop participants will examine real-life technology case studies and participate in proven biomimicry teaching/learning exercises with a biomimcry education expert. Time will be given so that participants can, individually or
together, integrate the material presented into their existing curriculum."

The hands-on part of the workshop will be held in the P/NW BOCES Front Conference Room.  For more information, see https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=13064&I=727281&H=1 or Download Biomimicry-20100716-flyer.

Mar. 3-4/2010: Biomimicry: innovative solutions inspired by nature (Eindhoven)

Biomimicry: innovative solutions inspired by nature .

Biomimicry as a discipline promotes learning from and then emulating nature to create more sustainable and healthier human technologies, designs and system strategies. Nature, with 3.8 billions of experience, has found what works, what is appropriate, and most importantly, what lasts here on Earth. Using nature's wisdom can lead us to find solutions for our current challenges or can be a source of inspiration to propose innovative solutions. Do you want to know more Biomimicry, check the site of the Biomimicry institute

This course is intended for: Professionals who wants to look for solutions based in the principles of the natural world and are willing to share their challenges in an open way

This workshop will be held March 3 - 4, 2010 in the International Center for Sustainable Excellence in Eindhoven.

Georgia Tech | Chair and Professor of Industrial Design

Georgia Tech | College of Architecture | Industrial Design | Position Announcement > Chair and Professor of Industrial Design.

The College of Architecture of the Georgia Institute of Technology invites nominations and applications for the position of Chair and Professor of Industrial Design. Industrial Design has a long and distinguished history at Georgia Tech, offering ID courses since 1940. The College of Architecture offers the Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Design in which 127 students are presently enrolled. The Program began a Master in Industrial Design degree program in Fall 2003 in which 37 students are currently enrolled.

The Chair will be a tenured or tenure-track faculty member who will head the School of Industrial Design and oversee the graduate program, as well as have other administrative, teaching, research, and outreach responsibilities. The successful candidate should have an advanced degree, academic experience and a demonstrated ability to lead.  The Chair will have the opportunity to provide vision and leadership in furthering the linkages of Industrial Design to the new strategic directions of the College and the Institute. 

...

Candidates must have a terminal degree in Industrial Design or related field, with a doctorate and/or extensive experience in industry preferred. Candidates should have an active, distinguished program of research and/or creative activities. The salary will be competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience. Appointment is anticipated on or before July 1, 2010. The College of Architecture anticipates transitioning to the school structure as of January 1, 2010.

A separate announcement stated that:

The ideal candidate for the position would have a clear and compelling sense of the current and future possibilities within Industrial Design and its allied fields, and would be ready to engage the new strategic emphases of the College and the Institute, especially in the areas of cross-disciplinary design education and research. The ideal candidate would also have a proven ability and interest in seeking out and working with diverse constituencies in order to shape innovative and distinctive industrial design academic and research initiatives.

...

Review of applications and/or nominations will commence February 15, 2010; however applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Interested individuals are invited to submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and names and contact information for five references to: Sabir Khan, Chair Search Committee, Industrial Design, Office of the Dean, College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0155.

Feb. 18-20/2010: Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design

ASU Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design.

"A pioneering collaboration among biologists, designers, engineers, and businesspeople, Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design is a conference organized by graduate students and supported by the Frontiers in Life Sciences program at Arizona State University. This conference will explore how the collective behavior and nest architecture of social insects can inspire more efficient and sustainable solutions to human challenges in areas such as manufacturing, communications, transportation, and green building. It will facilitate interdisciplinary exchange of concepts, perspectives, and tools that may enrich biology and advance biomimetic design. Finally, it will address fundamental issues in social biomimicry, including its ethical and psychological implications. We invite you to join us for this exciting event February 18 – 20, 2010 at the Memorial Union, Arizona State University, Tempe Campus."

Thanks to Bernie Michalik and Core77 for the pointer!

March/2010: An Invitation to Visit Gaviotas in March 2010

An Invitation to Visit Gaviotas in March 2010.

"So far, few outsiders have managed to visit this special place. But public order is making a comeback in the region, making it possible for the village to invite 30 people for a fully hosted day visit. In addition, Gaviotas founder Paolo Lugari is inviting visitors to a second day of events in and around the Gaviotas office in Bogotá.

Cost for 2 days of hosted events, including chartered flight from Bogotá, meals, tours, talks: $995 (US dollars). With your payment, you will be supporting numerous current initiatives at Gaviotas (including the reforestation project) and make personal connections that may lead to further involvement and lifelong friendships. This price is for early registration in January. Signing up in early February will cost $100 more ($200 more in late February, though we are likely to fill up before then).  Sorry, but there are no funds available for scholarships."

An article on The Lessons of Gaviotas appeared in the February 2009 issue of the BioInspired! Newsletter.

July 12-15/2010: The 2010 International Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Methods

"Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Genetic programming
• Genetic algorithms
• Hybrid genetic / memetic algorithms
• Artificial life
• Genetic benchmarks and software packages
• Optimization methodologies
• Swarm intelligence and optimization
• Artificial immune systems
• Evolutionary programming
• Genetics-based machine learning
• Adaptive behavior-based systems
• Fuzzy systems and evolutionary computing
• Biologically inspired systems
• Evolutionary strategies
• Combinatorial optimization problems
• Ant colony optimization
• Learning classifiers
• Agent technologies
• Parallel/distributed evolutionary algorithms
• Evolvable hardware
• Evolutionary scheduling
• Search based strategies
• Evolutionary multi-objective optimization
• Prediction methods
• Co-evolution
• Novel methodologies
• Robotics
• Biological methods
• Applications

Prospective authors are invited to submit their papers by uploading them to the evaluation web site at: http://worldcomp.cviog.uga.edu/.  Submissions must be uploaded by March 1, 2010 and they must be in either MS doc (but not docx) or pdf formats (about 5 to 7 pages - single space, font size of 10 to 12). All reasonable typesetting formats are acceptable (later, the authors of accepted papers will be asked to follow a particular typesetting format to prepare their final papers.)"

The conference will be held in Las Vegas as part of the WORLDCOMP 2010 event. Further information will be available when the website at http://www.world-academy-of-science.org/ is updated.

Thanks to A. M. G. Solo and the Biomimetics listserv for the pointer!

Feb. 18-20/2010: Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design

Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design.

A pioneering collaboration among biologists, designers, engineers, and businesspeople, Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design is a conference organized by graduate students and supported by the Frontiers in Life Sciences program at Arizona State University. This conference will explore how the collective behavior and nest architecture of social insects can inspire more efficient and sustainable solutions to human challenges in areas such as manufacturing, communications, transportation, and green building. It will facilitate interdisciplinary exchange of concepts, perspectives, and tools that may enrich biology and advance biomimetic design. Finally, it will address fundamental issues in social biomimicry, including its ethical and psychological implications. We invite you to join us for this exciting event February 18 – 20, 2010 at the Memorial Union, Arizona State University, Tempe Campus.

Early registration deadline: December 15, 2009
Abstract Submission Deadline: December 15, 2009
Late registration deadline: January 31, 2010

The website includes the program, a list of speakers, travel/local information, a student travel grant program, and a downloadable poster.

Thanks to Tate Holbrook for the pointer!

Sept. 14-16/2010: Third International Conference of Bionic Engineering (ICBE’10)

"On behalf of the Organizing Committee, it is my great pleasure to invite you to the Third International Conference of Bionic Engineering (ICBE’10), organized by Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Jilin University), Ministry of Education, which will be held on 14-16 September, 2010, in Zhuhai, China.
 
The conference will focus on recent progress in bionic engineering, and the topics of the conference include, but are not limited to:

1. Functional bionics/biomimetics;
2. Coupling bionics/biomimetics;
3. Biomaterials & Bionic/biomimetic materials;
4. Bionic/biomimetic walking;
5. Applications of bionic/biomimetic technology in engineering.

An abstract is invited to be submitted which should be 400-500 words, single-spaced and must emphasize the object, major results and conclusions. The authors of accepted presentations should submit two copies of their manuscript by email with Word (doc) and Acrobat (pdf) formats respectively. All abstracts and papers should be submitted by email to [email protected] (Please write “ICBE’10 paper” at the subject line), and the well-written paper will be published in the Journal of Bionic Engineering (SCI and EI indexed).

For more information please refer to the attached pdf file. Also the Ceremony for Establishment of the International Society of Bionic Engineering (ISBE) will be also held during the conference. Please kindly forward this announcement to your colleagues who may be interested."

Additional information about the conference can be downloaded from http://kltmb.jlu.edu.cn/english2/The_Third_International_Conference_of_Bionic_Engineering__ICBE_2010_.pdf. The website referenced in the PDF is currently under construction.

April 7-9/2010: EvoEnvironment 2 - Nature Inspired Methods for Environmental Issues

Welcome to EvoStar 2010.

"EvoEnvironment 2, an event of the EvoApplications Conference is devoted to the use of nature inspired methods for environmental issues. The goal of this event is to bring researchers from a variety of different areas, computer scientists, engineers, biologists, chemists - all in concern about the environment - together for an exchange of ideas. We invite submissions on many diverse topics such as waste management, sewage treatment, control of greenhouse gas emissions, biodegradation of materials, efficient energy use or use of renewable energies to name but a few. Nature inspired methods include all aspects of evolutionary computation such as genetic algorithms, evolution strategies, genetic programming, ant algorithms, or particle swarm systems. Researchers working with bio-inspired systems or bionic systems, i.e. systems developed by looking at how nature has solved a problem are also encouraged to submit their work."

The conference will be held in Istanbul. Papers can be submitted until November 4/2009, with notification of acceptance in early January 2010.

Thanks to John Summerscales and the Biomimetics listserv for the pointer!

Guest Contributions

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