Alexander Polzin

(he/him)

About

Alexander Polzin is a PhD candidate in the School of Design's Transition Design program, advised by Peter Scupelli and Jonathan Chapman. His research examines human-forest interactions at a time when forests are increasingly digitized. By contextualizing and testing the design and use of sensors, interfaces and algorithms within the broader socioeconomic systems within which they function, his work seeks to conceptualize how tensions between distinct, at times conflicting, frames (e.g., seeing the forest as building material, as carbon, as habitat) might be bridged through ecological and generative design. His research currently focuses on the timber supply chain within the Great Lakes region and strives to identify ways of supporting futures that are environmentally sustainable, plural and mycorrhizal.