Laboratory for Cybernetics

I've committed a career to the concepts and uniqueness of Cybernetics, it's the core of my practice

CMU grad student, Design Researcher at Lab 4 Cybernetics. Experience building prototypes across digital products, spatial design, and physical computing using rapid prototyping methods.

Supporting cross-disciplinary education and stakeholders Art x technology in creative technology/new media Supporting pedagogical responses to new technologies Understanding and documenting tacit knowledge Maintaining [Quality Education] considering the proliferation of generative AI technologies [Reduced Inequalities] brought on by inequitable access to technology and technology-as-amplifier [Responsible Consumption and Production] given the environmental impact of generative AI development

Health technology + disability justice + participatory design Ethical and Responsible assistive tech/AI/digital health systems Community-based participatory research (CBPR) Ethical innovation & inclusive design Related SDGs: SDG 3 (Good Health & Well-being), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure), and SDG 16 (Inclusive Institutions)

Aging & Elder Care Systems Invisible & Reproductive Labor Political Economy of Care Culture of Optimization in Healthcare Human Value Beyond Productivity & Optimization Radical Aging & New Futures for Growing Old

The core of this domain explores the development of the internet and social platforms from their origins to today. The transformation from non-curated collections of human expression into billion dollar industries that utilize algorithmic tools trained on user data to predict and control future behavior. These tools not only automate information flows about us, but automate us. This theory comes primarily from "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" by Shoshana Zuboff which I have been diving into recently, which argues that these tools do not merely automate information flows about us, but that they automate us. One thing she emphasizes is the "unprecedented" nature of surveillance capitalism, how humans have a habit of understanding the new through the familiar: the first cars were called "horseless carriages," taking old terms and using them to describe something new. She argues that that is what we are doing with surveillance capitalism, using existing vocabulary around privacy, monopoly, and regulation which were created to describe a different world, this leads us to pursuing inadequate interventions. Zuboff reframes the user in the system, arguing that the user is not the product itself, but the source material. Extraction from that source happens well before we see the product. Crucially the behavioral surplus isn't simply observed, but it is altered and manipulated. Every interface decision, every engagement mechanic, every notification is designed to generate richer and more predictable data. The customer is not the user, it is really the companies purchasing predictions about our future behavior. How do we return agency to the user, and is it possible to build a mutual transaction between users and the platforms they inhabit? What does agency even mean inside a system designed to predict and shape behavior? What would structural change actually require?

The domain at the core of my practices is thoughtfully and intentionally building tools for cognitive offloading & enhancement to allow people to keep pace with that which the world we've built demands of us without unduly eroding core competencies underlying the enhanced capability.

My interest in this domain comes from seeing how migration decisions are shaped by both structural demand for labor and personal aspirations for stability. Transnational labor systems in care and agriculture are essential to economies, yet they can place workers in positions where opportunity and vulnerability coexist. I’m interested in examining these systems because they affect families, remittance flows, and long-term life trajectories. My concern is with how recruitment pathways, visa structures, and labor demand interact to produce conditions that can either support or constrain worker agency. For me, understanding this domain is important because it offers a way to think about how essential labor systems might be structured more equitably while still meeting global workforce needs.

The core domain of my research is study the architecture and design systems of waste, sustainability, and circular economy frameworks. My work investigates how design contributes to a “broken metabolism,” where resources are extracted, consumed, and discarded without returning to natural cycles. I am particularly interested in how architectural thinking, product design, and urban systems can shift this linear process toward a circular and regenerative model, where materials are reused, repaired, and reintegrated into the system rather than becoming waste.

The core domain of my research is study the architecture and design systems of waste, sustainability, and circular economy frameworks. My work investigates how design contributes to a “broken metabolism,” where resources are extracted, consumed, and discarded without returning to natural cycles. I am particularly interested in how architectural thinking, product design, and urban systems can shift this linear process toward a circular and regenerative model, where materials are reused, repaired, and reintegrated into the system rather than becoming waste.

Infrastructural inequality in postcolonial planned cities. Spatial erasure of minority labor communities. Informal settlements as systemic products, not exceptions. Decolonising British caste discrimination embedded in Pakistani urbanism. SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, Strong Institutions)

PhD Researcher | Systems Thinking | Circular Economy & Invisible Harms | Social Equity & Justice Mid-stage PhD researcher applying systems thinking to critically examine the circular economy — specifically its invisible harms on marginalized communities. Research focus: Circular economy transitions (recycling systems, waste reuse, green manufacturing) are celebrated as sustainable solutions — but often displace environmental and social burdens onto low-income and minority communities. My fieldwork maps these hidden inequities within circular material flows and industrial systems. Specific areas: Informal waste workers exposed to toxic material streams in circular supply chains Environmental racism embedded in "green" recycling infrastructure siting Social costs of circular transitions invisible to lifecycle assessments Feedback loops that sustain inequity within closed-loop systems UN Sustainable Development Goals connected to my work: SDG 10 — Reduced Inequalities within circular transitions SDG 12 — Responsible Consumption & Production (who bears the true cost?) SDG 3 — Good Health (communities near circular industrial zones) SDG 16 — Justice & strong institutions in green policy design Seeking mentorship in: Systems dynamics · Environmental justice · Circular economy critical theory · Mixed-methods research · Sustainability policy Open to conversations, critical dialogue & guidance from researchers, practitioners and policymakers working at the intersection of sustainability and justice.

I have extensive experience with purposeful engagement in social-ecological systems (food, forestry, fisheries, green building, energy sectors &etc), but this experience may be somewhat out of date (from the 90s and 00s).

Cybernetics and complex systems research, with applied work in holographic media, simulation environments, and interaction design. The core focus is the design, analysis, and implementation of systems that operate at the intersection of control theory, emergent behavior, and advanced computational frameworks; moving from speculative or unconventional theory toward tangible prototypes, APIs, and applied technology.

AI governance; human–AI coordination; cognitive offloading; operator‑centric interfaces; cybernetic thinking; decision support systems.

AI Auditing: Structured, repeatable evaluation of AI systems using regulatory-style documentation, traceability, and risk assessment methodologies adapted for probabilistic systems - background from third-party microbiology and chemical analysis for food, pharma, and manufacturing; regulatory in chemical manufacturing Human-in-the-Loop Analysis: Measurement and modeling of how human feedback and interaction patterns affect system behavior over time, enabling identification of drift, misalignment, and instability within the broader system, and it's applicability to auditing failure modes in real world processes without mechanistic interpretability AI Literacy: Training programs designed to ensure that users understand the capabilities and limitations of AI systems, reducing misuse and preventing predictable failure modes before they occur; currently undergoing revamp and certification for use in government agency context

Second-order cybernetics applied to organisational learning, systems design, and educational transformation. My practice operates at the intersection of design, computing, engineering, and higher education leadership. I focus on how complex sociotechnical systems learn, adapt, and innovate through conversation, feedback, and participatory design. My work addresses wicked problems such as the energy transition, technological disruption, siloed organisational cultures, and inequitable access to learning. Central to this practice is the design of learning environments and organisational conversations that make complexity visible, enable sense-making across disciplines, and support collective responsibility for change. I work as a practitioner embedded within institutions and industries, developing and applying design-led learning approaches that shift from efficiency-driven optimisation toward collaborative innovation and systemic learning.

I work at the intersection of systemic thinking, evaluative inquiry, and relational practice. My work is not about teaching frameworks or delivering (expert) answers — it is about creating the conditions under which people and organisations become more capable of asking better questions, sitting with uncertainty, and learning their way toward something new. Even innovative. I design and I hold spaces — in conferences, organisations, and communities of practice — where genuine inquiry can happen: where the relational and the analytical meet, where self-awareness and collective sense-making reinforce each other, and where the aspiration to do things differently has room to take form. Drawing on systems thinking, the Process Enneagram work by Richard Knowles, and a long practice of working across the science-policy interface, I bring intellectual rigour and personal warmth to encounters that are meant to disturb as much as they are meant to support.

My work sits at the intersection of human-computer interaction, wearable computing, and design. I explore how intelligent, body-worn systems can reshape the relationship between people and their environments — treating the body itself as a site of spatial and computational inquiry.

Building infrastructure for humanness to flourish. I work at the intersection of community governance, systems design, and human value, asking what gets built, measured, and governed when productivity stops being the only metric for a human life. This includes both social infrastructure (the conditions for dignity, agency, and purpose) and physical infrastructure (intergenerational, regenerative communities where human worth is designed in, not assumed).