business world with up-scaling manufacturing being critical.
3D Printed Composites, Dr. Grace Gu The examination of seashells and other Mollusca account for roughly 5% of the BioM Innovation Database [4]. Similar to Kennedy’s endeavour for mechanical strength, Gu is also inspired by seashells to develop novel materials. Where Kennedy is an Industrial Designer within the Architecture Design School at Virginia Tech, Gu holds a Mechanical Engineering PhD from MIT and now leads a research group at Berkeley. Kennedy is focussed on creativity, where Gu investigates physical principles. Her methods allow for a deep understanding of a topic and have produced synthetic materials comparable to their natural counterpart in appearance and performance. ZQ24 [10] showed how Gu and her team are utilizing machine learning to model the hierarchical structure of conch shells to a high level of detail. Unlike Kennedy, who took inspiration from the physical form, Gu emulates the process through which strength is provided. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) teaches Gu how these materials behave and interact, rather than what they look like. A diverse team including Civil and Mechanical Engineers
helped translate the biology into engineering models, though Gu didn’t directly collaborate with a biologist. Instead, her team is encouraged to develop their biological understanding through research and conversation. Increases in toughness and strength of 3D printed structures were demonstrated through Gu’s work, though the push for
Conch shell inspired material testing adapted from Gu, G. X., Chen, C. T., Richmond, D. J., & Buehler, M. J. (2018). Bioinspired hierarchical composite design using machine learning: simulation, additive manufacturing, and experiment. Materials Horizons, 5(5), 939-945.
Zygote Quarterly 28 | vol 2 | 2020 | ISSN 1927-8314 | Pg 89 of 140