The BioBuild Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program answers the pressing societal need for professionals with the interdisciplinary expertise necessary to redefine how we develop buildings, infrastructure, and communities. The emerging fields of bioinspiration, biointegration, and bioinclusivity provide paths towards this objective. A bioinspired built environment capitalizes on the regulative, adaptive, and integrative characteristics of biological systems and incorporates or mimics these features as part of the constructed world. In contrast, a biointegrated built environment situates constructed facilities amidst natural systems to achieve complementarity, with natural systems providing useful services to support human needs and aspirations. Finally, bioinclusive built environments afford integrative habitats for humans and non-humans coexisting together, with the needs and aspirations of both taken into account such that synergies between them can be realized. In doing so, buildings and infrastructure will more optimally respond to changing conditions and expectations – which will make the interdependent built environment more sustainable, parsimonious, and resilient, as well as ecologically integrated.
Graduates of the BioBuild program will have an immediate impact in university and industrial settings, and they will change the relationship between the built environment and our planet. We do this by bringing together faculty from departments in CAAD, COE, COS, CVM, CNRE, CALS, and CLAHS to deliver a program that explores the human-constructed world and biological and ecological systems synergistically to discover innovative connections between these disciplines.
BioBuild Fellows can receive one year or more of financial support from the BioBuild program while working toward a degree from a doctoral program associated with any BioBuild-affiliated faculty. To receive full consideration for financial support from the BioBuild Program in the following academic year, potential faculty advisors should contact the BioBuild Director as soon as possible to inquire about funding availability for new fellows. Requests will be accepted no later than April 1 for fall entry or September 1 for spring entry.
Participating Colleges, Departments, and Faculty:
College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (CALS)
School of Animal Sciences - Erica Feuerbacher
Horticulture - Diane Relf
College of Architecture, Art, & Design (CAAD)
School of Performing Arts - Dwight Bigler
College of Engineering (COE)
Biomedical Engineering & Mechanics - Jonathan Boreyko
Building Construction - Annie Pearce, Georg Reichard
Civil and Environmental Engineering - Michael Garvin, Farrokh Jazizadeh, Freddy Paige, Tripp Shealy
Construction Engineering & Management - Xinghua Gao
Electrical and Computer Engineering - Walid Saad
Engineering Education - Ben Chambers
Mechanical Engineering - Rolf Mueller
College of Science (COS)
Biological Sciences - Bryan Brown, Ignacio Moore
College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM)
Large Animal Clinical Sciences – Virginia Buechner-Maxwell
College of Natural Resources and Environment (CNRE)
Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation – Amy Brunner, Susan Day
Sustainable Biomaterials - Jennifer Russell
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS)
Urban Affairs & Planning - Steve Hankey
For more information, please visit our web-site at biobuild.mlsoc.vt.edu or send a request for information to biobuild@vt.edu. Please also reach out directly to any faculty with complementary interests at Virginia Tech and let them know you are interested in being a BioBuild Fellow. Faculty who are interested in working with you may contact Dr. Annie Pearce for more information about funding and other resources and requirements.