The Biomimicry Guild is a dynamic ecosystem of individuals and organizations spread all over the world. As specific projects emerge, we bring together the expertise needed to help the project succeed.
Through public presentations and workshops, research reports, biological and sustainability consulting, and field excursions, the Biomimicry Guild helps innovators learn from and emulate natural models. Our goal is to create products, processes, and policies that create conditions conducive to life.
Our fluid network is much larger than listed here. Below represents the current constellation of our most active members.
PRINCIPALS
Janine Benyus
Janine Benyus is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. In Biomimicry, she names an emerging discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's designs and processes (for instance, solar cells that mimic leaves).
Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine has evolved the practice of biomimicry, consulting with sustainable businesses and conducting seminars about what we can learn from the genius that surrounds us. Her favorite role is biologist-at-the-design-table, introducing innovators to organisms whose well-adapted designs have been tested over 3.8 billion years.
In 1998, Janine co-founded the Helena, Montana-based Biomimicry Guild with Dr. Dayna Baumeister. The Guild is an innovation consultancy providing biological consulting and research, workshops and field excursions, and a speakers’ bureau. The Guild helps designers learn from and emulate natural models with the goal of developing products, processes, and policies that create conditions conducive to life.
In 2005, Janine founded The Biomimicry Institute (TBI), a nonprofit organization based in Missoula, MT. TBI’s mission is to nurture and grow a global community of people who are learning from, emulating, and conserving life's genius to create a healthier, more sustainable planet. Programs include the development of biomimicry courses in a range of educational settings from K-12 schools to universities as well as non-formal venues such as zoos, museums and nature centers. TBI also offers biomimicry workshops for designers (engineers, architects, etc.) as well as biologists through the Biologist-at-the-Design-Table training. TBI’s Innovation for Conservation program uses proceeds from bio-inspired products to conserve the habitat of the mentor organisms. In 2008, the TBI launched www.AskNature.org, an open-source database of biological literature organized by design and engineering function. In early 2009, as part of its K-12 educational outreach work, TBI released Ask the Planet, a CD of children’s biomimicry songs, written and composed by Amy Martin featuring numerous celebrity artists including Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams and Bruce Cockburn.
Janine has received several awards including a Time Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment award, the Rachel Carson Environmental Ethics Award, the Lud Browman Award for Science Writing in Society, and the Barrows and Heinz Distinguished Lectureships. In 2009, Janine was honored with a Champion of the Earth award in Science & Innovation from the United Nations Environment Programme. She traveled to Paris to accept the award on Earth Day and then participated in a two-day conference hosted by Business 4 Environment.
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.
Links to hear more from Janine Benyus:
- Twelve Sustainable Design Ideas from Nature - TED Talk
- An interview with Janine Benyus
- Read the first Chapter from Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.
Dayna Baumeister
Co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild, Dayna’s fascination and intrigue with the natural world began early with daily forays into the woods behind her home and weekend trips to the mountains with her family. As an adult, nature has been an inspiration in all of her personal and professional endeavors. Starting at the coastal seashore of Florida, Dayna received a BS in Marine Biology from New College in Sarasota. After several years exploring the intricate relationships of coral reefs, she turned in her wetsuit and headed back to the mountains. There, Dayna earned a MS in Resource Conservation and a PhD in Organismic Biology and Ecology from the University of Montana in Missoula, specializing in dynamics of positive interactions among animal and plant life.
With a background in biology, a devotion to applied natural history, and a passion for sharing the wonders of nature with others, Dayna has worked in the field of Biomimicry since 1998 as an educator, researcher, and design consultant. As co-founder and keystone for the Biomimicry Guild, Dayna acts as the liaison between all members of the Guild. In addition, she brings her skills as a systems thinker and organic communicator to her dynamic workshops, presentations, seminars, and exhibits, which have introduced the idea of nature as model, measure, and mentor to thousands of designers, business managers, and engineers around the country. Bringing home the principles of life that she espouses in her work, Dayna finds physical and spiritual sustenance as a gardener, hunter, yoga instructor, and naturalist. She lives with her family in the foothills of the inspiring landscape of the rugged Rocky Mountain Front in Montana.
GUILD STAFF & ASSOCIATED PERSONNEL
Jessica Jones
Pixel Naturalist
Spending her childhood in the deserts of Phoenix, Arizona, and the prairies of the Black Hills, South Dakota, Jessica is proud of the places she grew up and credits much of her creativity to these open landscapes. The inviting forms, shapes, and colors of these intriguing natural places have inspired her design style and continue to influence her work at the Biomimicry Guild.
Jessica graduated from the University of Montana, Missoula with a B.S in Recreation Management, an option in nature based tourism, and minors in media arts and nonprofit administration. Jessica has worked at the University Center as the Assistant Marketing Director where she designed the UC website, posters, and other promotional materials. She also designed the Sustainability Initiatives Team website. While an intern for both the Biomimicry Institute and the Montana Natural History Center, Jessica designed interpretive exhibits, PowerPoints, and advertisements. She was a Mortar Board scholar recipient and is a member of the National Association for Interpretation. Before joining the Guild, Jessica was an interpretive naturalist for Custer State Park in South Dakota where she developed and presented natural history programs to visitors of all ages. Jessica loves surrounding herself with biologists because she continuously learns interesting and intriguing facts about organisms; she especially geeks out about arthropods!
Jessica lives in Helena, MT, because the seasons allow her to participate in activities such as snowboarding, sailing, photography, and nature journaling. She also hopes to make natural history documentary films that focus on the concepts of biomimicry and sustainability.
Tim McGee
Senior Biologist at the Design Table
Tim is a trained interdisciplinary biologist with an interest in applying biological know-how to industrial systems. Tim obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology from Colby College, where he focused on utilizing the tools of computer science to investigate natural phenomena. His liberal arts training served him well as he finds himself equally comfortable wielding hiking boots or a laptop, which enables him to explore the biological world as well as share it with others. Tim’s graduate research at the University of California Santa Barbara further refined his interest in sustainable systems by investigating the exciting world of biological molecular materials science, learning how life makes materials.
Tim is a regular contributor to Treehugger the leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. He has also spent time working in wide variety of fields from medical research at the National Institutes of Health and Novartis Pharmaceuticals to studying landscape architecture at Harvard University. Tim’s wealth of experience in biological research, industry, and design enables him to act as a Biologist at the Design Table with the Biomimicry Guild, where he helps clients explore how the natural world can help their company innovate and create a sustainable future. Tim’s interest in biology extends to the micro and nano-size realms of materials science and energy production, where he is constantly amazed by the innovative nature of life.
Taryn Mead
Senior Biologist at the Design Table
Taryn's training in ecology and the socio-industrial aspects of environmental issues provides a systems-based platform for discussion of biomimetic principles and methodologies. As a Biologist at the Design Table for the Guild, she specializes in Nature's functions at the ecosystem level. With a bird's eye view on planning, architectural and production challenges, she provides insights into ecological principles that can be used to enhance the way designs fit into the landscape of a place. She guides clients through a design process that asks the local organisms how to flourish in the regional habitat conditions and incorporate ecosystem nutrient cycling into landscape scale designs. Her assignments include consulting with corporate clients, researching biological strategies, facilitating workshops with design professionals and biologists, creating tools to assist in the design process and managing the Guild's internship program.
She grew up in the woods of the rural Midwest, catching crayfish in the "crick" near her parents' long time home. Her adventures, educational endeavors and employment have since moved her to south Florida, Brazil, various parts of Colorado, Los Angeles and the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. She participated in the National Student Exchange Program and worked at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies at California Polytechnic University in Pomona, CA. She graduated Cum Laude with degrees in Environmental Studies and Biology with an emphasis in Ecology from Western State College of Colorado in Gunnison. She was involved with numerous sustainability initiatives in Gunnison, eventually serving as Student Body President and the State Coordinator for the Sierra Student Coalition. Upon graduation, she received the Alumni Award for Excellence for her service to the campus and community. She relocated to Helena, MT, when she joined the Guild, after working as a biologist on commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea. In her free time, she enjoys bluegrass music, dark roasted coffee and getting her hands dirty, be it climbing, gardening, camping or rafting.
Mark Dorfman
Green Chemistry Naturalist & Member, Biomimicry Speakers Bureau
Mark Dorfman, Green Chemistry Naturalist, received his Master's degree in environmental chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Public Health. His case-study research of waste reduction practices at chemical manufacturing facilities helped INFORM, Inc. spur the creation and passage of the Federal Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 as well as similar laws in key industrial states. He's had the great privilege of providing technical assistance to disadvantaged communities located along the so-called "chemical corridor" between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana in their efforts to promote industrial pollution prevention locally.
On the international front, Mark has worked with chemical industry trade organizations to promote green chemistry in Mexico, India, Russia, and Nepal. In recent years, he’s created educational materials that link green chemistry with biomimicry including a section in John Wiley and Son’s Transforming a Sustainability Strategy into Action, a fellowship with the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and leading workshops for scientists and college students in Kathmandu, Nepal through a grant from the American Chemical Society's Green Chemistry Institute.
In 2007, he joined the Biomimicry Guild to focus full time as liaison between the Guild and the world's leading green chemists to develop the biomimetic component of green chemistry strategies. He's charged with the exciting and rewarding task of helping Guild clients find sustainable solutions through inspiration from nature's warehouse of sophisticated, elegant, and life-friendly chemical transformations. Mark is an avid cyclist, swimmer, hiker, and aquarist, maintaining no less than three distinct aquatic environments in his New York City studio apartment.
Sharon Ritter
Biologist at the Design Table
Sherry manages the Biomimicry Institute's opensource database and interactive website, AskNature.org, and is a member of the consulting team, giving workshops, conducting research, and writing reports. Sherry digs deep into the multitude of strategies that nature practices all around her. A lover of science and sharing her time with children and adults in the field exploring plants, birds, and other wildlife, Sherry can't help but expound upon the exciting things that science is revealing every day. Sherry received her BS and MS in wildlife ecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has worked most of her career as a nongame biologist for Wyoming Game and Fish and the Idaho Fish and Game, and a research/management coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Research Station's Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project. Sherry is the author of a book, Lewis and Clark's Mountain Wilds, and numerous magazine articles about wildlife.
Robyn Klein
Robyn is the Guild's Phytosleuth. She is a professional member of the American Herbalists Guild, trained primarily at the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine (1995). She is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology at Montana State University (M.S. 2004). Her research involved the phylogeny of adaptogenic plant species and the bioactivity of phytoecdysteroids (insect hormones synthesized by plants).
Robyn Klein has taught herbal medicine classes for over 20 y
ears at schools few people know exist, such as the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine (Bisbee, AZ); the Dominion Herbal College (Burnaby, British Columbia); the National School of Phytotherapy (Albuquerque, NM); and the Rocky Mountain School of Botanical Studies (Boulder, CO). Robyn served as chair of the Governor’s Task Force on Wild Medicinal Plants 1999-2002, helping to pass one of the strictest laws in the nation against poaching medicinal plants.
Robyn’s recent work has been published in Healing Arts Press, American Entomologist, Journal of the American Herbalists Guild, High Falls Gardens, Veterinary Herbal Medicine, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, and in U.S. Forest Service publications.
Robyn enjoys reading and writing science fiction, rafting rivers and soaking in hot springs. She lives in the foothills surrounding Bozeman, Montana.
CHRIS ALLEN
Certified Biomimicry Professional
Chris serves on the management team for the expanded operations of the Biomimicry Guild and Institute. He is among the fifteen graduates of the first cohort of the Biomimicry Institute's two-year professional program.
Trained in International Business at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas (1985), Chris has over twenty years experience providing strategy and management consulting services related to sustainable development for a variety of private sector clients as well as the US Department of Energy, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, the Northwest Area Foundation, and the United Nations Man and Biosphere Program. His international experience includes work and studies in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Mexico and he serves on the Board of Directors of A World Institute for Sustainable Humanity.
Chris received an award in 2007 from the State of Texas, Department of Parks and Wildlife, for land stewardship achievements at Woodson Place, a conservation development project focused on ecological restoration and green building on his family's 112 year old family farm.
GUILD ASSOCIATES & CONSULTANTS
JORGE KAnahuati
Certified Biomimicry Professional
Jorge Kanahuati is an experienced sustainability professional based in Mexico City specializing in strategic planning for sustainable businesses and coordination of integrative design processes involving the systemic collaboration of interdisciplinary teams. His work with clients including international corporations, academic institutions, government entities, real state developers, architecture and design firms and non-profit organizations, has focused on the creation of value-added win-win solutions for diverse sustainability oriented projects. He is a Certified Biomimicry Professional and a LEED Accredited Professional holding a bachelor's degree in Economics from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico and a master's degree in Ecosystems Analysis and Governance from the University of Warwick complemented with the program Ecology of Commerce and The Natural Step from Schumacher College in England.
Karen Allen
Biologist at the Design Table and Workshop Instructor
Karen feels most impassioned when exploring nature and sharing her understanding of the natural world with others to help inform the way we live. Her interdisciplinary science background and love of natural history helps Karen serve as a Biologist at the Design Table, translating nature’s strategies for architects, engineers, and designers. She brings her love of teaching to the Costa Rica Biomimicry and Design Course, presentations, and workshops. Karen also helps the Guild research nature’s solutions. She is currently diving deeper into Biomimicry as a student in the Biomimicry Two-Year Certificate Program.
After receiving a B. S. in Environmental Science from U.C. Berkeley, Karen taught environmental science to students in Yosemite, then taught wilderness skills, leadership, and natural history on month-long wilderness courses in the Rocky Mountains and desert Southwest. A burning curiosity to more deeply understand natural systems led her to receive a M.S. in Earth Sciences, with an emphasis in botany, soils, and hydrology, from Montana State University. She currently runs a habitat restoration and wetland consulting business in Bend, OR and teaches a semester-long natural history and ecology program in Belize each winter for Humboldt State University. When not consulting or teaching, Karen nurtures her love of gardening, swimming, bluegrass, and exploring mountain and river systems with friends.
Toby Hemenway
Member, Biomimicry Speakers Bureau
After obtaining a bachelors degree in biology from Tufts University, Toby entered the biotech sector where he worked at several medical schools and private companies until he encountered his true calling in the field of permaculture in the early 1990s. In 1996, Toby began teaching permaculture, and has subsequently become an internationally recognized instructor, designer, and consultant in the field. In 2001 he published Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture (Chelsea Green Publishing), the first major book on permaculture for North America. He has presented and offered workshops at conferences such as Bioneers, Eco-Farm, SolFest, and other major venues. His writing has appeared in national magazines including Whole Earth Review, Natural Home, and American Gardener. He teaches graduate-level courses at Portland State University in permaculture and whole-systems design, is Scholar-in-Residence at Pacific University, and a field director for the Permaculture Institute USA. Toby is currently working on a book on the use of natural patterns as a design tool. His latest foray into the world of inspiration from nature led him to become a Biologist at the Design Table for the Biomimicry Guild. Toby lives with his wife in Portland, Oregon, where he is involved in the design and operation of several multi-acre sites that demonstrate how the processes and patterns of natural ecosystems can be harnessed to provide food, materials, and education for urban residents and students. Toby's website offers a wealth of resources on Ecological Design and Permaculture.
David Hammond
Member, Biomimicry Speakers Bureau
David Hammond is an environmental chemist with a broad interdisciplinary background in physical, biological and social sciences. He received his M.S. from the Energy & Resources Group and a Ph.D. in Agricultural & Environmental Chemistry, both at the University of California, Berkeley, where he specialized in Chemical Ecology — the interaction of plants and animals at the chemical level. While at UC Berkeley he was honored with two Regents Fellowships and the Macy Award for excellence in entomology. He has consulted to private industry concerning cork production, pest management, biological wastewater treatment, sustainability, and biomimetic product design, including work for Nike, IDEO, and the Green Chemistry Institute. David founded a non-profit organization in Guatemala that teaches Permaculture to small farmers, he has 2 patents for naturally-derived insecticides, has several peer-reviewed publications, and speaks Spanish and Portuguese. His current interests lie in green chemistry, industrial ecology, ecological design, biomimetic product design, and evolutionary psychology. In his free time he enjoys travel, photography, ultimate frisbee, and gardening.
Carl Hastrich
Industrial Design / Web Design & Member, Biomimicry Speakers Bureau
Carl Hastrich is an Industrial Designer currently based in Canada with an interest in Sustainability. His recent experience has involved working in the Toy Industry making a variety of products, from collectable figurines to yo-yos. Having been exposed to the unsustainable practices going on in Toy Design and the toxic factory manufacturing environments in China he was interested in looking for new avenues to address these issues. He has since packed up shop and moved to Canada to pursue various new opportunities for sustainable design. Recently he has been teaching at Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) and working with students to develop new design methodologies that incorporate biomimicry into their design process.
Rose Tocke
Sustainability Consultant and Member, Biomimicry Speakers Bureau
Rose Tocke is a sustainability consultant and educator based in Gunnison, Colorado. She began her professional career in sustainability in 2005 with the Biomimicry Guild. Here she consulted with prestigious clients to help craft ecologically-based solutions to their technological and management challenges, as well as educating professional audiences internationally about the inspirational discipline of innovation inspired by nature.
Currently, Rose’s passion for systems- and ecology-based problem solving led her to found Full Circle Collaborative, an ambitious project to integrate environmental sustainability with social sustainability at the local level. Her primary foci are expanding knowledge of and access to local food systems, creating regional food security, teaching sustainable home-economics, and providing education and support to mothers before, during and after the birth of the wee ones. She has also partnered with EDAPO Organization Uganda, an infant care and primary school for orphans in Kampala, Uganda to help build resource security for an organization supporting a growing number of at-risk children.
Rose’s education and training are based in the sciences and span molecular biology to landscape ecology. She has an undergraduate degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from Western State College and is currently pursuing a Certificate in Restoration Ecology from the University of Idaho, en route to a Master’s degree in Natural Resources.
The Biomimicry Guild has a wide range of experienced speakers to talk to your organization about the potential of Biomimicry and the methods of implementing Biomimicry ideas. For more information and to request a speaker, fill out our