Biomimicry Global Design Challenge: The Harley School’s Biomimicry Club Places Third with huMANGROVE

The Upper School Biomimicry Club at The Harley School recently earned third place in the Biomimicry Institute’s national Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge.
The design concept competition encourages young people to develop bio-inspired solutions to real-world sustainability problems. Working in teams with an adult coach, students explore the wonders of the natural world and apply what they learn to create innovations that support a healthier planet.

The Upper School Biomimicry Club at The Harley School recently earned third place in the Biomimicry Institute’s national Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge.

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The design concept competition encourages young people to develop bio-inspired solutions to real-world sustainability problems. Working in teams with an adult coach, students explore the wonders of the natural world and apply what they learn to create innovations that support a healthier planet.
The institute, which announced the winners of the Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge pilot program in June 2018, will launch the full program in the fall.

Led by Betsy Vinton, science department co-chairman and a mathematics and science teacher at Harley, the Harley Biomimicry Club sought to mitigate the effects that increases in storm intensity and frequency have on the world’s coastlines in terms of erosion and damage. Its project, huMANGROVE, was inspired by the roots of mangrove trees and designed to combat intensifying weather patterns by breaking storm surges on the coast and partially holding off rising water levels, which contribute to coastline erosion and cause flooding and damage in coastline communities.

The team’s structure requires fewer materials than traditional breakwaters and other existing solutions. The root-based design allows water to flow through freely, minimizing disruption to aquatic ecosystems.
“Biomimicry is an incredible way to teach STEM concepts while connecting our students to nature and encouraging them to develop innovative ideas for a more sustainable world,” Vinton said. “I’m incredibly proud of this team and of all their hard work in making this concept come to life.”

Members of the Harley Biomimicry Club and winning team include Gunnar Hammonds, Jacob LaDue, Thomas Neumaier, Sam Reeder, Audrey Scudder and Belle Sherwood.

“The biomimicry project allowed our team to think about new concepts in a context outside of what I’ve ever experienced in a traditional classroom,” Reeder said. “It was amazing to be able to participate in a design process like this from start to finish and, ultimately, see our hours of work rewarded.“
Prizes were awarded for the best biomimetic design concepts in two grade divisions: middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12). Visit bit.ly/2zyEv3Z for information.