Grace O’Connell leads our series of lectures on creativity across disciplines with a talk about what it means to invent a new material. In her lab, she creates new tissues to replace human tissues that wear out, such as intervertebral disc tissues and articular cartilage. She discusses risks and disappointments, the creative drive that allows her to carry on, the joys of collaborative creativity in a lab setting, and the thrill of creating something that works better than expected. 

O’Connell is the associate dean for inclusive excellence for UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering and an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. 

Participants and topics are subject to change; visit Berkeley Arts + Design (artsdesign.berkeley.edu) for the most up-to-date series information.