Trillions of periodical cicadas broke soil across the Eastern U.S. this summer. But long before that, researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studied cicadas for the hidden biological secrets of their wings.
Marianne Alleyne, a professor of entomology and mechanical science and engineering at Illinois and a past president of the Entomological Society of America, is one of them.
“We use cicadas and other insects as inspiration for engineering new materials. As biologists, we also want to be able to use these materials to then go in the opposite design direction. So, the prototypes that we created, and which may result in marketable new surfaces for various industries, can also be used to help us explain fundamental biological questions about natural selection,” Alleyne said.
Her lab’s work revolves around bioinspired design: the process of learning from nature to develop new materials and technologies.
Contact Alleyne at vanlaarh@illinois.edu
