Engineering Nature


Book Description

Focusing on globalization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Jessica Teisch examines the processes by which American water and mining engineers who rose to prominence during and after the California Gold Rush of 1849 exported the United




Shape and Structure, from Engineering to Nature


Book Description

Seemingly universal geometric forms unite the flow systems of engineering and nature. For example, tree-shaped flows can be seen in computers, lungs, dendritic crystals, urban street patterns, and communication links. In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan considers the design and optimization of engineered systems and discovers a deterministic principle of the generation of geometric form in natural systems. Shape and structure spring from the struggle for better performance in both engineering and nature. This idea is the basis of the new constructal theory: the objective and constraints principle used in engineering is the same mechanism from which the geometry in natural flow systems emerges. From heat exchangers to river channels, the book draws many parallels between the engineered and the natural world. Among the topics covered are mechanical structure, thermal structure, heat trees, ducts and rivers, turbulent structure, and structure in transportation and economics. The numerous illustrations, examples, and homework problems in every chapter make this an ideal text for engineering design courses. Its provocative ideas will also appeal to a broad range of readers in engineering, natural sciences, economics, and business.




Engineering Education for the Next Generation: A Nature-Inspired Approach


Book Description

Guide your students through the fascinating world of engineering, and how to draw inspiration from Nature’s genius to create, make, and innovate a better human-built world. Studded with more than 150 illustrations of natural phenomena and engineering concepts, this fascinating and practical book clearly demonstrates how engineering design is broadly relevant for all students, not just those who may become scientists or engineers. Mr. Stier describes clever, engaging activities for students at every grade level to grasp engineering concepts by exploring the everyday design genius of the natural world around us. Students will love learning about structural engineering while standing on eggs; investigating concepts in sustainable design by manufacturing cement out of car exhaust; and coming to understand how ant behavior has revolutionized the way computer programs, robots, movies, and video games are designed today. You will come away with an understanding of engineering and Nature unlike any you’ve had before, while taking your ability to engage students to a whole new level. Engineering Education for the Next Generation is a wonderful introduction to the topic for any teacher who wants to understand more about engineering design in particular, its relation to the larger subjects of STEM/STEAM, and how to engage students from all backgrounds in a way that meaningfully transforms their outlook on the world and their own creativity in a lifelong way. · Fun to read, comprehensive exploration of cutting-edge approaches to K-12 engineering education · Detailed descriptions and explanations to help teachers create activities and lessons · An emphasis on engaging students with broad and diverse interests and backgrounds · Insights from a leading, award-winning K-12 engineering curriculum that has reached thousands of teachers and students in the U.S. and beyond · Additional support website (www.LearningWithNature.org) providing more background, videos, curricula, slide decks, and other supplemental materials




Engineering with Nature®


Book Description




Building with Nature


Book Description

Building with Nature is a proven, innovative approach to create water-related Nature-based Solutions for societal challenges, that harnesses the forces of nature to benefit the environment, economy and society.00EcoShape, a unique collaboration between scientists, engineers, builders, designers and not-for-profits, has in the past decade designed, realized, monitored and researched multiple Building with Nature projects in Europe (especially in the Netherlands) and South East Asia. These projects demonstrate the capacity to build Nature-Based Solutions at scale to create safe and sustainable flood protection as well as ecologically rich and resilient environments that provide great places to live, work, and visit. These characteristics make Building with Nature the go-to method to adapt to and mitigate climate change.00In this book, EcoShape brings the authors into dialogue with experts and stakeholders to discuss methodologies and lessons learned about Building with Nature as well as potential barriers and enablers for implementation. It describes and illustrates key concepts, linking them to a range of landscape types and their underlying ecological, economic, and social systems. As such, the book is more than a manual; it captures the imaginative and inspirational potential of Building with Nature.




Nature Remade


Book Description

“Engineering” has firmly taken root in the entangled bank of biology even as proposals to remake the living world have sent tendrils in every direction, and at every scale. Nature Remade explores these complex prospects from a resolutely historical approach, tracing cases across the decades of the long twentieth century. These essays span the many levels at which life has been engineered: molecule, cell, organism, population, ecosystem, and planet. From the cloning of agricultural crops and the artificial feeding of silkworms to biomimicry, genetic engineering, and terraforming, Nature Remade affirms the centrality of engineering in its various forms for understanding and imagining modern life. Organized around three themes—control and reproduction, knowing as making, and envisioning—the chapters in Nature Remade chart different means, scales, and consequences of intervening and reimagining nature.




Cooperating with Nature


Book Description

This volume focuses on the breakdown in sustainabilityâ€"the capacity of the planet to provide quality of life now and in the futureâ€"that is signaled by disaster. The authors bring to light why land use and sustainability have been ignored in devising public policies to deal with natural hazards. They lay out a vision of sustainability, concrete suggestions for policy reform, and procedures for planning. The book chronicles the long evolution of land-use planning and identifies key components of sustainable planning for hazards. Stressing the importance of balance in land use, the authors offer principles and specific reforms for achieving their visions of sustainability.




Architectured Materials in Nature and Engineering


Book Description

This book deals with a group of architectured materials. These are hybrid materials in which the constituents (even strongly dissimilar ones) are combined in a given topology and geometry to provide otherwise conflicting properties. The hybridization presented in the book occurs at various levels - from the molecular to the macroscopic (say, sub-centimeter) ones. This monograph represents a collection of programmatic chapters, defining archimats and summarizing the results obtained by using the geometry-inspired materials design. The area of architectured or geometry-inspired materials has reached a certain level of maturity and visibility for a comprehensive presentation in book form. It is written by a group of authors who are active researchers working on various aspects of architectured materials. Through its 14 chapters, the book provides definitions and descriptions of the archetypes of architectured materials and addresses the various techniques in which they can be designed, optimized, and manufactured. It covers a broad realm of archimats, from the ones occurring in nature to those that have been engineered, and discusses a range of their possible applications. The book provides inspiring and scientifically profound, yet entertaining, reading for the materials science community and beyond.




Nature Did It First


Book Description

Part playful poetry, part nonfiction information, this kid-friendly introduction to biomimicry highlights the remarkable ways plants and animals have helped us solve some of our toughest engineering challenges. One well-known example of biomimicry is the invention of Velcro - inspired by the sticky burrs from a plant. Discover six more ways nature did first Back matter includes a glossary and a STEM challenge activity to use at home or in the classroom.




Water-Quality Engineering in Natural Systems


Book Description

FOCUSING ON CONTAMINANT FATE AND TRANSPORT, DESIGN OF ENVIRONMENTAL-CONTROL SYSTEMS, AND REGULATORY CONSTRAINTS This textbook details the fundamental equations that describe the fate and transport of contaminantsin the water environment. The application of these fundamental equations to the design of environmental-control systems and methodologies for assessing the impact of contaminant discharges into rivers, lakes, wetlands, ground water, and oceans are all covered. Readers learn to assess how much waste can be safely assimilatedinto a water body by developing a solid understanding of the relationship between the type of pollutant discharged, the characteristics of the receiving water, and physical, chemical, and biological impacts. In cases of surface runoff from urban and agricultural watersheds, quantitative relationships between the quality of surface runoff and the characteristics of contaminant sources located within the watersheds are presented. Some of the text's distinguishing features include its emphasis on the engineering design of systems that control the fate and transport of contaminants in the water environment, the design of remediation systems, and regulatory constraints. Particular attention is given to use-attainability analyses and the estimation of total maximum daily loads, both of which are essential components of water-quality control in natural systems. Readers are provided with a thorough explanation of the complex set of laws and regulations governing water-quality control in the United States. Proven as an effective textbook in several offerings of the author's class "Water Quality Control in Natural Systems," the flow of the text is carefully structured to facilitate learning. Moreover, a number of practical pedagogical tools are offered: * Practical examples used throughout the text illustrate the effects of controlling the quality, quantity, timing, and distribution of contaminant discharges into the environment * End-of-chapter problems, and an accompanying solutions manual, help readers assess their grasp of each topic as they progress through the text * Several appendices with useful reference material are provided, including current U.S. Water Quality Standards * Detailed bibliography guides readers to additional resources to explore particular topics in greater depth With its emphasis on contaminant fate and transport and design of environmental-control systems, this text is ideal for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students in environmental and civil engineering programs.Environmental scientists and practicing environmental/civil engineers will also find the text relevant and useful.