Conference: Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design (February 18-20, 2010, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ)

仿生是模仿自然的形式和过程，以更有效和可持续地应对人类设计挑战的实践。这次会议名为社会仿生：昆虫社会和人类设计，将探索蚂蚁、蜜蜂和白蚁等群居昆虫如何影响人类设计。在数百万年的时间里，群居昆虫进化成了紧密结合的社会，在它们的范围和复杂性上只有人类能与之匹敌。个体社虫工作者的行为能力相对简单，但通过他们的集体行为，他们解决了大型社会团体围绕共同目标组织和沟通所固有的许多实际问题。基于蚂蚁觅食行为的计算机模型已经被用于在繁忙的通信网络(如互联网)中路由交通，建筑师们正在模仿白蚁丘建造节能的被动降温建筑。然而，以昆虫为灵感的社会设计的实施一直受到限制，部分原因是缺乏跨学科和专业边界的沟通和协调。这次会议将通过将生物学家--包括社会昆虫生物学和复杂性理论领域的领军人物--与设计师、工程师和商人聚集在一起，解决这一缺陷，目的是促进概念、观点和工具的交流。这项活动应该(1)丰富生物学，揭示基础研究的新应用，并刺激以问题为导向的研究的新领域，(2)推动生物仿生领域的发展，这是创新和经济增长的重要引擎。这次会议还包括一个公共的社会昆虫科学博览会！这将把亚利桑那州立大学的研究人员与凤凰城社区的成员联系起来，包括来自当地K-12学校的代表性不足的学生。这次会议由亚利桑那州立大学社会昆虫研究小组的研究生小组组织和领导，并鼓励来自美国和海外的本科生和研究生参加。这次会议提供了一次独特的机会，培训未来的科学家具备必要的领导技能，以组织和举办专业会议，并在跨学科的背景下交流和应用他们的工作。会议成果将通过同行评议的热门文章和互联网资源广泛传播。

Biomimicry is the practice of imitating nature's forms and processes to more effectively and sustainably meet human design challenges. The conference, Social Biomimicry: Insect Societies and Human Design, will explore how social insects such as ants, bees, and termites can inform human design. Over millions of years, the social insects have evolved tightly integrated societies rivaled only by humans in their scope and sophistication. Individual social insect workers are relatively simple in their behavioral capabilities, but through their collective behavior they have solved many practical problems inherent in large social groups organizing and communicating around common goals. Already, computer models based on ant foraging behavior are being used to route traffic in busy communications networks such as the Internet, and architects are mimicking termite mounds to build passively-cooled buildings that save energy. However, the implementation of social-insect-inspired design has been limited, in part, by lack of communication and coordination across disciplinary and professional boundaries. The conference will address this shortcoming by bringing together biologists - including leaders in the field of social insect biology and complexity theory - with designers, engineers, and businesspeople, with the goal of promoting the exchange of concepts, perspectives, and tools. This activity should (1) enrich biology, by revealing new applications of basic research and stimulating new areas of problem-driven research, and (2) advance the field of biomimicry, which is an important engine for innovation and economic growth. The conference also features a public Social Insect Science EXPO! which will connect researchers at Arizona State University with members of the Phoenix community, including underrepresented students from local K-12 schools. The conference is organized and led by a panel of graduate students from ASU's Social Insect Research Group, and encourages participation by undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S. and abroad. The conference provides a unique opportunity in training future scientists with the leadership skills necessary to organize and run a professional meeting and to communicate and apply their work in an interdisciplinary context. Conference results will be disseminated broadly through peer-reviewed and popular articles and Internet resources.