Bioinspired Institute Annual Symposium 2024

The Institute's annual symposium is an opportunity to highlight new initiatives and the ongoing work of our community. The trainees and faculty of the BioInspired Institute innovate in the classroom and laboratories across campus, making the symposium a can't-miss event.

This year, we are delighted to host the Kashi And Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture in the Sciences And Humanities as part of the symposium. The Wali lecture is co-sponsored by the Syracuse University Humanities Center's Syracuse Symposium 2024-2025 series on "Community."

The two-day event will include:

Remarks by Syracuse University leadership
Kashi and Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture by Eduardo Kac, Professor of Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Dr. Chris Fromme, Cornell University
Dr. Jill Higginson, University of Delaware
Dr. Wole Soboyejo, SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Institute-wide poster sessions
Trainee lightning talks
BioInspired programming highlights
Social Mixer
Luncheon and refreshments

Poster Competition Awards and Prizes

Best Overall Posters (three)
Best Commercialization Potential
Best Societal Impact
Stevenson Biomaterials Poster Awards (two)

Presentation Competition Awards and Prizes

First and Second Overall

BioInspired Best Publication Award

First and Second Overall

Speakers and Highlights

Eduardo Kac, “Rockets for the Sake of Poetry”

Art Institute of Chicago

Legendary artist Eduardo Kac will revisit key highlights in his forty-year career, with emphasis on his current space artworks. After an introduction contextualizing his pioneering telepresence works from the mid-1980s, Kac will give examples and further discuss his development of bio art. Kac first gained prominence at the beginning of the twenty-first century with his transgenic work GFP Bunny (2000), in which he used molecular biology to literally create a green-glowing rabbit named Alba. In 2017 Eduardo Kac worked with an astronaut to create an artwork aboard the International Space Station.
Dr. Chris Fromme, Professor, Molecular Biology and Genetics

Cornell University
Dr. Jill Higginson, Professor, Mechanical Engineering

University of Delaware
Dr. Wole Soboyejo, President & Chief Academic Officer, Prof. of Engineering

SUNY Polytechnic Institute
University Leadership

Duncan Brown, Vice President for Research
Behzad Mortazavi, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences
Cole Smith, Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Sciences
Poster Sessions

Open to all Institute trainees, including undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral associates. All posters are eligible for awards (see below).
Trainee Lightning Talks

Trainees can self-nominate to be selected for lightning talks in a special session devoted to our graduate students and postdoctoral associates.