Description
The Center for Biologically Inspired Design (CBID) at Georgia Tech, in combination with Kimberly-Clark Corporation, recently completed two biologically inspired design projects. These projects successfully generated two new active research lines for improving product performance. Join Michael Helms, PhD, from Georgia Tech, and Marsha Forthofer, Kimberly-Clark, to learn more about the projects and discuss the conditions that enabled (and inhibited) the success of the projects including:
• best-practice biologically inspired design processes
• expectation setting across different design domains
• design team knowledge and skill requirements
• translating biological concepts into actionable, funded research
Contributors
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Martha Forthover, Senior Research Scientist, Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Marsha Forthofer is a chemical engineer and a senior research scientist with Kimberly-Clark Corporation, based in Roswell, GA. Her work at K-C has focus on developing new materials for K-C’s personal care products. In 2013, she became one of a handful of engineers to complete the 2-year Biomimicry Professional Certification program offered by Biomimicry 3.8 and last year she was awarded her Master’s degree in biomimicry from Arizona State University. She leads the Nature-inspired Materials team at K-C, which is focused on using biomimicry as a methodology to enable materials of the future.
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Michael Helms, PhD, Research Scientist, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Michael Helms is a Research Scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Co-founder of PatternFox Consulting. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where his research focused on improving design creativity. In addition to teaching biologically inspired design and cognitive science at Georgia Tech, Michael has over 40 peer reviewed publications in the field of biologically inspired design. Michael’s recent work focuses on understanding how existing biologically design methods can be applied in industrial settings to increase design innovation and better manage uncertainty.