Nature@Noon: Thinking Like a Tree

Thinking Like a Tree: Dendrites and One Man’s Search for Universality in Nature and Engineering

Join Michael Kozicki, professor of electrical engineering at Arizona State University, for a virtual journey into one of the most common — and magical — phenomena in nature. Branching patterns are ubiquitous in nature. You can find them in the structure of trees, the bronchial tubes of the lungs, the connections between the neurons in the brain and even in the forking of lightning bolts and eroded river beds. They are known as dendrites, a word that comes from the Greek for “tree.”

Dendrites have been a career obsession for Kozicki, who, for more than a quarter century, has studied the formation and properties of dendrites in ionic materials and applied some of his insights in wildly divergent innovations, including improving the efficiency of electronic systems and thwarting counterfeiting in food and consumer goods.

Kozicki is a professor in ASU's School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. He develops new materials, processes and device structures for next-generation integrated circuits and systems. He holds more than 60 U.S. patents in ionic devices, resulting in his election to Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and has published extensively on solid-state electronics.

Nature@Noon is a series of workshops that explores the collection of ASU’s new NatureMaker library and its potential to inspire sustainable innovation. NatureMaker is a collaboration between the Biomimicry Center and the ASU Library.