Sightlines Lecture Series: Biodesign with Jennifer Bissonnette

Join us in honoring the 75th Anniversary of the Norman Bird Sanctuary–a beloved non-profit wildlife sanctuary and environmental education center–across seven evening lectures in 2024. A broad array of speakers will explore the disciplines celebrated by Norman Bird Sanctuary founder, Mabel Norman Cerio: art, culture, ornithology, and conservation.

Jennifer, whose work merges natural sciences knowledge and methods with art/design thinking, will explore the design philosophies of biomimicry (the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes) and discuss the critical role art and design can play in ensuring a future of sustainable coexistence.

Speaker Bio: Jennifer Bissonnette, Director of the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab at Rhode Island School of Design, is an ecologist and marine scientist whose work engages techniques of transdisciplinary inquiry to merge natural sciences knowledge, techniques, and methods of inquiry with art and design thinking and studio practices.