SUNY-ESF to establish biomimetics laboratory at Newcomb campus

SUNY-ESF is turning to nature for some problem-solving inspiration.

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry plans to establish the Roosevelt Biomimetics Laboratory at its Newcomb, New York campus in the Adirondack Mountains. The lab, which is projected to open in late 2017, will provide an opportunity for students to learn how to solve sustainability issues by looking at natural processes.

“It has been a hallmark of the SUNY-ESF community to understand natural systems and emulate them in problems today,” said Brian Houseal, director of the SUNY-ESF Adirondack Ecological Center at the Newcomb Campus.

Biomimicry at its core draws inspiration from natural occurrences to create sustainable solutions to human problems, Houseal said.

While the word biomimicry is unfamiliar to most, it has played a role in several inventions, Houseal said. Velcro was developed after a man had a burdock, which is a prickly herb, stuck to his pants; the first airplane was developed after the Wright Brothers observed birds in flight, and bullet trains were modeled after kingfisher birds, Houseal said.

Houseal emphasized the benefits of the lab’s location, as it will enable students and scientists to walk out the door and be submerged in wilderness.

“We are tapping the wisdom found in nature to enable clever inventors, engineers and entrepreneurs to solve practical problems in more sustainable ways,” said SUNY-ESF President Quentin Wheeler.

The historic Stone Carriage House in the Adirondacks will be home to the lab, which will be stocked with art imaging and video recording equipment along with digital microscopes, Wheeler said. This technology will enable students and scientists to capture evolutionary adaptations that may lead to sustainable solutions, he added.

To coincide with the lab, a Biometics Data Center is being developed on the SUNY-ESF campus in Syracuse. Houseal said there are no facilities on the Newcomb campus to conduct scientific research of the data, so the idea is to have a set of servers on the main campus, creating a one-on-one relationship.

“While most biomimicry labs across the country pull models from nature, this lab will push nature’s clues into an open database,” Wheeler said.

The lab will be extended as a distance learning opportunity for primary and secondary education students as well, Houseal said.

“We know that local [kindergarten] through 12th grade schools are shrinking in enrollment and don’t have the opportunity to take advanced courses,” Houseal said. “The lab gives us an opportunity to bring up a new generation of students in the science and technology arena.”

Funding for the lab, which is totaled at $3.5 million, comes from the SUNY 2020 Challenge Grant given by New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to the New York state website. The grant also establishes a SUNY Labs to Jobs Consortium through which five SUNY campuses will share labs throughout the region, according to the website. The consortium will be led by SUNY-ESF, Onondaga Community College, the State University of New York at Oswego, the State University of New York Upstate Medical University and Morrisville State College, according to the website.

Wheeler said each of the collaborating campuses took a different approach when translating knowledge gained in the lab to the creation of jobs.

“We (SUNY-ESF) have played on two of our strengths: exploring natural history and solving practical problems in sustainable ways,” said Wheeler.

He added that the grant will help to position New York state as a source of ideas for sustainability.

It is projected on Gov. Cuomo’s website that 1.6 million jobs will emerge nationally in the biomimicry industry by 2025.