Guest Introduction

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 Media and Interaction Design at Parsons School of Design, New York. He also directs the Synthetic Ecosystems Lab that focusses on biological futures, their implications in interaction design, and the cybernetics of organisms and materials. Harpreet earned a graduate degree in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab and has previously lived and worked in the Austria, India, Japan, Singapore and USA. His experience spans corporate research wings, studios, museums to academic centers having previously worked at Google Creative Lab, Microsoft Research, MIT Media Lab, Ars Electronica Museum, National University of Singapore, Keio University and more. His projects are often a synergistic integration of robotics, software, electronics for prototype or final interactive experiences.

Harpreet has previously been named as MIT Technology Review Under 35 Innovator (2013), awarded Genpact-NASSCOM National Social Innovation Honour and other recognitions from Microsoft. His academic work has been published at peer-reviewed conferences like CHI, UIST and HCI journals; and his artwork has been showcased at Beijing Biennale, Ars Electronica Festival, MIT Museum and more. He has also been invited to TEDx venues and lectures internationally in universities or innovation centers.

Lecture Introduction

Traditional design of electronics has always had a human-centric view. The thought process of designing with silicon has been less efficient, durable and less sustainable for the long term. In contrast, Harpreet coined "Convergent Design" -to design with the capabilities of nature. Plants fit into the first stage of this vision-they are self-powered, self-repairing and active signal networks in the environment. Harpreet designs systems that are placed in conjunction with plant capabilities and powered naturally. Some of these are water monitoring sensors inside plants, robots living on plants that shape them automatically for architecture and more.