About Us

Our Mission

Our Mission is to bring the benefits of bio-inspired design and science instruction to public and private K-12 education in the United States.

 

Our Goals

Build the Tools Develop and disseminate curricula and useful instructional advice to K-12 practicing professionals.

Teach the Teachers Train practicing teachers in the techniques of bio-inspired design instruction.

Weave the Web Organize administrators, teachers and officials into a national support group for the expansion and sustaining of bio-inspired design instruction.

 

Our Organization

We are a nonprofit public benefit corporation organized for educational purposes and headquartered in San Rafael, California.

 

Past Courses

Since 2006, Tom McKeag (Founder and President of BioDreamMachine) has taught a wide range of courses on bio-inspired design at the Dixie School District GATE program, the California College of the Arts, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Our Board of Directors

Tom McKeag's picture
Tom McKeag ;   Founder and President ;   San Rafael, California
Adjunct Faculty, California College of the Arts

Tom McKeag is a licensed Landscape Architect and Town Planner with more than 25 years of experience in the fields of design and planning. Tom is also an educator, having taught the subject of biomimetic design to groups from grade school to graduate school and beyond.

He helped establish the nation's first public elementary school course in biomimicry at the Dixie Elementary School,...

Dorna's picture
Dorna Schroeter ;   Director ;   Yorktown Heights, New York, USA
Coordinator, Environmental Education Program, Putnam/North Westchester Board of Cooperative Education Services

Dorna Schroeter is an education administrator, teacher and trainer with 28 years experience as the Coordinator of the Environmental Education Program at the Putnam/Westchester Board of Cooperative Extension Services (BOCES). She has grown this program nearly six-fold in that time: it now serves 42,000 students in 40 New York school districts with over 50 program offerings. The program includes...

john's picture
John Peterson ;   Director ;   San Francisco, California, USA
Founder and President, Public Architecture

John Peterson is the Founder and President of Public Architecture, a nonprofit organization dedicated to putting the resources of architecture in service of the public interest. He also maintains a small private architectural practice, Peterson Architects, which has been distinguished for its pro bono contributions to San Francisco social service and community development. John has been...

nhoeller's picture
Norbert Hoeller ;   Director ;   Stouffville, Ontario, Canada
Founder and Principal, Sustainable Innovation Network

After a successful 32-year career at IBM (most recently as a Consulting Information Technology Architect and technical program manager in charge of major infrastructure implementations), Norbert Hoeller founded Sustainable Innovation Network, a private consulting practice, in 2005. His primary areas of interest are tools and methods supporting systems-oriented, bio-inspired design.

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