"The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone."
~ Janine Benyus
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"The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone."
~ Janine Benyus
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Prior to Bryony's involvement with The Biomimicry Institute, she
worked for over 11 years as the Executive Director and then as the National
Campaigns Director for Women's Voices for the Earth (WVE) a non-profit
environmental justice organization that she founded in 1995. WVE works on the
links between toxic pollution and women's and children's health. From 2001 to
2004, Bryony co-founded and coordinated Coming Clean, a national alliance of
health and environmental groups.
Diana has two decades of experience building constituencies for
environmental protection. Prior to joining the staff of The Biomimicry
Institute, she worked for Earthjustice; the Pacific Institute for
Studies in Development, Environment and Security; Redefining Progress;
and Greenpeace. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Ms Lee earned a
B.A. at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, where she studied art, and
later returned to Hawaii, where she co-founded a
modern dance company. Diana sees fund raising as an opportunity to
bring together people who share common values and want to use their
resources to invest in solutions to pressing, systemic problems.
Sam has a decade plus of experience working on ecological education,
wildlife conservation, and environmental policy. Sam has taught outdoor,
inquiry-based ecological education to dozens of classes of young students in
the Philippines and United States, as a Peace Corps Volunteer and National
Science Foundation Fellow, and has worked with college students as an
instructor and campus director of diversity programs. In the Philippines, one
of world’s biodiversity hotspots, Sam founded the country’s first natural
history educational center, which today supports 140,000 annual visitors.
Cindy was raised on a small farm in southern Ontario where she spent
her days wandering in woodlands and playing in creeks. It was from her first 18
years of life on the farm and understanding the true nature of one place that
she developed her passion for sustainable living. Since that time Cindy has
nurtured her awe for the natural world through a combination of travel,
research and education. Cindy completed her MS in wildlife science from Oregon
State University and her BSc in biology from the University of Guelph in
Ontario. Cindy’s research focused primarily on the impacts of climate change on
arctic and antarctic seabirds. Cindy also has extensive teaching experience;
she has taught in elementary school classrooms, at the university level, as
well as with environmental education programs. Cindy earned her graduate
diploma in education from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. Cindy
is an avid gardener and all-season bicyclist; she also loves to practice yoga,
ski, hot spring, and float rivers.
Megan is a biologist with a strong interdisciplinary background in ecology, environmental health, education, and sustainability and social justice issues. She spent her youth in the forests, creeks, and
hedgerows of eastern Wisconsin, and later served in the Peace Corps in
Paraguay, where she worked as a beekeeping extension agent. Most recently, she worked as a consultant for the Biomimicry Guild, helping global companies look to nature for inspiration to develop sustainable and innovative technologies. In her current role at the Institute, Megan teaches Biomimicry & Design classes and workshops, lectures on biomimicry to university audiences, and works with faculty and administrators to incorporate biomimicry tools and concepts into university classrooms and curricula. Megan graduated from
Grinnell College with a BA in biology and earned an MS in Environmental
Studies from the University of Montana.
Angela landed in Montana in 1992 after leaving her home state,
Pennsylvania, to pursue an education in wildlife biology. After earning her
B.S. in 1996, she took a position as a Park Service naturalist in Grand Teton
National Park. A year later she was hired as the first program biologist for
Wind River Bear Institute, where the majority of her time was spent, literally,
in the field of bear management throughout northwest Montana. Angela’s days
were divided between utilizing Karelian Bear Dogs and bear shepherding as a
bear management tool, trapping, relocating and radio tracking grizzly bears and
black bears, educating visitors of public lands on avoiding bear-human conflicts,
and working with private landowners to address the same. During the winter
while the bears denned, Angela was employed by the institute as bookkeeper and
office manager. In addition, she worked as a biological science technician in
Grand Teton National Park and as a private contractor for Montana Fish,
Wildlife and Parks. During much of that time, Angela has moonlighted as
bookkeeper for two Missoula-based non-profit organizations for over five years
and most recently worked as an accountant for the largest real estate firm in
Montana. When not home gardening with her husband and three cats she is out
hiking, biking or enjoying the rivers around Missoula.
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Andrea Leggitt graduated Magna Cum Laude from Arizona State University with a B. S. in Industrial Design. Coming from a family ripe with architects, graphic designers, art teachers, illustrators, painters, and one collage artist, she grew up around all things design and has worked as a freelance designer in New York and Arizona. After a triumphant tangle with cancer, Andrea’s interest shifted from simply designing pretty objects to more socially and environmentally responsible design. Andrea, after being "bitten by the biomimicry bug," interned at the Biomimicry Institute for a summer and has since been brought on as a designer, helping to explain biomimicry through design concepts and infographics. When not drawing dandelions for TBI, Andrea can be found zipping around on her baby blue road bike, spoiling her dog, and nurturing her side project of laser cut mobiles, SaltyandSweet.
Chris serves as the manager of the Biomimicry Design Portal project.
Chris has twenty years experience providing strategy and management services to
private sector, public agency, and nonprofit clients. Specializing in
research and analysis, strategic planning, and sustainable development, he hold’s
a degree in International Business from the McCombs School of Business at the
University of Texas.
Tim Greiser is the technical lead on the Ask Nature
portal. He is a Zend Certified Engineer with over ten years of experience
in software development. He is passionate and opinionated about open
systems, iterative development, unit testing and loosely coupled
architecture. He is an active participant in several local technology
clubs, including the Missoula Web Discussion Group, Missoula Ruby Users Group
and Missoula Linux Users Group. In his free time he enjoys creating
electronic music, travel, hiking, kayaking, hunting and scuba diving.
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 for state fish and wildlife agencies, and 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. In 2004, she became a
barnacle, latching onto the Biomimicry Guild as a contractor, and
cementing herself fully when hired as a Biologist at the Design Table
in 2007. She's currently working for the Institute on AskNature content
and editing.
Dona has been involved in biological research and teaching for 28
years. As a government major at Harvard College she pursued her interests in
international relations and economic development before turning to the natural
sciences. After obtaining a PhD in Zoology from the University of Montana she
was awarded two post doctoral fellowships in Physiology, first at Dartmouth
Medical School and then at the University of Colorado School of Health
Sciences. She returned to Montana to raise three sons, lots of hay, sheep and
cattle, plus a few dogs, while continuing to conduct research in comparative
animal physiology and teach at the University of Montana for 13 years as an
adjunct and research professor. She moved to a tenure track position in Biology
at Eastern Washington University for 11 years until retiring in 2008 to return
to Missoula where she is a faculty affiliate in the Division of Biological
Sciences at the University of Montana and investigator at the Flight Lab in
addition to her development work with The Biomimicry Institute
Denise is a registered professional engineer in Montana and a LEED
AP. Denise received her bachelors in Civil Engineering from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison where she grew up, and her masters in Civil and Environmental
Engineering from Montana State University in Bozeman. Denise has over 15 years
of experience in both the public and private sectors in projects related to
surface and groundwater quantity and quality modeling and analyses,
environmental compliance, alternative waste management, and green building
strategies. Most recently, Denise has been dba Emergent Solutions, an
independent consulting service which focuses on strategies for sustainability.
John English assists the Institute with its computer-related needs.
John has 15 years experience administering Linux and Windows Web server
technologies. His scripting skills include Perl, PHP, ASP,Python, Bash and
Rails. He has Web site design experience and is versed in HTML, CSS, MySQL, Apache,
and IIS. He also possesses Website marketing and usability skills. His latest
obsession is XML/XSL programming and its application toward RSS feeds and
Content Management Systems. Currently he is employed by the National Center for
Appropriate Technology and serves on the board of the George Grant Chapter of
Trout Unlimited.
Emily has happily returned to
the mountains of Montana where
she was
born. She brings with her 6 years of graphic design experience and a
recently
completed masters certificate in science illustration. Emily received
her BA in
biology from Colorado College, and an associates degree in graphic
design from
the Art Institute of Colorado. She spent the next several years as a
graphic
designer for the Denver Botanic Gardens then moved back to Montana to
begin a
freelance graphic design business in Bozeman. Her clients included a
broad
range of non-profit science and educational groups as well as small
businesses.
From these clients, Emily discovered the need for good, clear and
inspiring
visual science information. With that in mind, she spent the last year
training
as a science illustrator with the unique program at University of
California
Santa Cruz Extension. She sees her role as a the middle person between
the
scientists and the public, conveying the excitement and the information
of our
discoveries and the hope that nature has solutions. When not puzzling
over
science, Emily spends her time running with her chocolate lab, biking,
hiking
and reading.
Jen is a graduate of the University of Montana where she received a bachelor's degree in Biology and a minor in Microbiology, as well as graduating through the honors program as a Presidential Leadership Scholar. She enjoys helping the Institute with content and editing on AskNature, and learning more about the exciting world of biomimicry. She is passionate about infectious disease research and is in pursuit of a graduate education in public health. Jen is a fervent supporter of