BioInspired! So What? Now What!

Fibers as Building Blocks of Advanced Materials, the symposium theme, is a response to and reflection of recent advances in nanoscience and technology. Driven by a growing demand from the biomedical, energy, transportation, and communications sectors for materials necessary for new and diverse applications, Fiber Materials Science and Engineering is being challenged to find solutions. 

The symposium is structured around a series of sixteen mini-symposia—from optical fibers to biomimetics to fiber science theory and computer simulations—that draw from various areas of expertise, chaired by leading experts. Participants will engage in a conversation that poses questions and explores the answers, with an eye toward everyday and novel applications.

Nature has already solved many problems that continue to vex engineers. This symposium will identify unexplored opportunities in the critical field of materials science. As one example, the biomimetic approach might show a way to incorporate functional fibers into structures, thereby providing distributed actuation, sensing, and manipulation capability to the resulting materials. Thus, the symposium has the potential to serve as a catalyst for novel science and technologies and will mutually benefit materials engineering and biological sciences.

Thanks to Michael Ellison and the Biomimetics mailing list for the pointer!