2023 Kusske Lecture & Dialogue: Janine Benyus

Janine Benyus is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In Biomimicry, she named an emerging discipline that emulates nature’s designs and processes (e.g., solar cells that mimic leaves) to create a healthier, more sustainable planet. Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine has evolved the practice of biomimicry, consulting with businesses about what we can learn from the genius that surrounds us. Her favorite role is Biologist-at-the-Design-Table, introducing innovators to 3.8 billion years of brilliant, time-tested solutions. Over the past 18 years, Janine has personally introduced millions to biomimicry through three TED talks, hundreds of conference keynotes, and a dozen documentaries. An educator at heart, Janine believes that the more people learn from nature’s mentors, the more they’ll want to protect them. This is why she writes, speaks, and revels in describing the wild teachers in our midst.

Prasad Boradkar is dean of the University of Minnesota’s College of Design. He is a designer, anthropologist, educator, and researcher with several years of experience leading design and research teams in both academia and industry.

Most recently Boradkar served as UX research and sustainability lead at Google’s Advanced Technology & Projects Division, where he led efforts on user experience research and sustainable development for health and wellness products.

Prior to his work at Google, he was a professor of industrial design at Arizona State University where he also served as co-director of the Biomimicry Center and director of InnovationSpace. The Biomimicry Center is dedicated to the exploration of biologically-inspired solutions to tackle the challenges of sustainable development. InnovationSpace is a transdisciplinary laboratory where faculty and students from industrial design, visual communication design, business, sustainability, and engineering work in teams and partner with corporations to develop product concepts that hold societal benefit while minimizing impacts on the environment. 

Boradkar holds a Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology from University College London; an M.A. in industrial design from The Ohio State University; an MDes in industrial design from the Industrial Design Centre, Bombay; and a Bachelor of Engineering from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India.

Shashank Priya is the University of Minnesota vice president for research, a position he has held since September 2022. In this position, he oversees a $1+ billion research enterprise across all campuses and facilities. He manages units responsible for administration of sponsored projects, research and regulatory compliance, and technology commercialization, as well as 10 interdisciplinary academic centers and institutes. He also oversees a growing corporate engagement portfolio for the University. Among his priorities are creating and growing UMN systemwide research initiatives, including an International Institute for BioSensing (IIB), a Discovery to Innovation Fund, a MN Bioimaging Center, and better access to shared research facilities.

Prior to joining the University of Minnesota, he was associate vice president for research and director of strategic initiatives at Penn State University, where, as a professor of materials science and engineering and a mechanical engineering adjunct professor, he led an interdisciplinary research group focused on developing bio-inspired materials, understanding the complex nature of properties in these materials, and utilizing them to invent unique applications. 

To date, he has published over 450 peer-reviewed journal papers and book chapters and more than 60 conference proceedings. Additionally, he has published ten edited books, holds 12 patents, and has given more than 290 conference presentations and invited lectures His research has been funded by DARPA, AFOSR, ARO, NSF, DOE, ONR, and several industries. He is the founder and chair of the Annual Energy Harvesting Meeting. 

Emilie Snell-Rood is a professor of ecology, evolution and behavior at the University of Minnesota. Snell-Rood is primarily interested in the evolution of learning, focusing on topics such as the costs of learning and information acquisition, and the role of developmental timing and nutrition as constraints on the evolution of learning. Some of her research considers the role of relaxed selection as a limit on the evolution of alternate developmental pathways. She is also interested in how species respond to novel and changing environments, including the role of learning and plasticity in this process, and the effects of behaviorally mediated cryptic genetic variation.

The Snell-Rood lab studies why organisms vary in their response to novel environments, for instance due to learning or general stress responses. We use this understanding to inform efforts related to conservation, such as restoration of roadsides or urban greenspaces. We are also interested in bridges between biology and design and engineering, through educational efforts to bring more biology into bio-inspired design.