Parsons School of Design
PROJECTS 2022
SYMBIOsensor
Elana Farrell, Leah Hughes
The team proposes genetically engineering the yeast in a SCOBY to signal the presence of environmental pollutants.
Order of the Biodivine
Rachel Gorman, Oscar Schrag, Jessica Thies
The Order of the Biodivine is a speculative, immersive theater experience that explores the intersections of religion, science, and interspecies symbiosis in a climate-insecure world.
Science Sandbox Prize for Public Engagement Winner
Instructors 2022
Jane Pirone
Jane Pirone is an Associate Professor of Design Ecologies at Parsons School of Design. She served as Dean of the School of Design Strategies from 2015-2019 and as Director of the Communication Design program from 2006-2011. Jane’s creative and transdisciplinary practice engages with living systems, storytelling, participatory futures, and new technologies from critical, queer and post-human theoretical perspectives. Jane has been a founding member of the Datamyne Project (MYNE), the Urban Research Toolkit (URT), the urbanBIKE initiative, and YouthBike. Prior to joining Parsons, Jane was the founder/creative director of Not For Tourists, drummergirl.com, and the award winning design firm, Happy Mazza Media, working with clients such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, IBM, Nickelodeon, and the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.
Harpreet Sareen
Harpreet Sareen is a scientist, artist, and educator based in New York. His work is situated at the intersection of material science, biology, and electronics and draws on the complementary abilities of the biological and artificial worlds. Harpreet terms this as 'Convergent Design' to create hybrid substrates and bionic materials that lend themselves for future ecological machinery, sensing systems, and interaction design. Harpreet is an assistant professor of Interaction and Media Design at Parsons School of Design, New York. He also directs the Synthetic Ecosystems Lab that focuses on biological futures, their implications in interaction design, and the cybernetics of organisms and materials.