{"id":4491,"date":"2025-10-30T14:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=4491"},"modified":"2025-12-09T11:54:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T16:54:43","slug":"zion-michael","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/zion-michael\/","title":{"rendered":"Zion Michael"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2560\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/MichaelZion-edited-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4492\" style=\"width:200px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/MichaelZion-edited-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/MichaelZion-edited-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/MichaelZion-edited-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/MichaelZion-edited-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/MichaelZion-edited-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/MichaelZion-edited-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/MichaelZion-edited-2048x2048.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>MIT Department:<\/strong> Media, Arts and Sciences<br><strong>Faculty Mentor<\/strong>: Prof. David Kong<br><strong>Research Supervisor:<\/strong> <br><strong>Undergraduate Institution:<\/strong> Florida International University<br><strong>Website<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Zion Michael is a designer, transdisciplinary researcher and engineer working at the nexus of climate, ecology, and social systems. She is currently pursuing a BS in MechanicalEngineering at Florida International University. The goal of her research is to gain a systems-level understanding of how technological, material, ecological, and social infrastructures interact\u2014and to use that understanding to develop robust design and engineering solutions that address critical issues in climate such as disaster preparedness, waste production and biodiversity loss. Past work includes explorations in cellulose biocomposite design (UPenn,FIU), chemical analysis of water disinfection byproducts (MIT), risk adaptive design across scales (MIT) and the behavioral ecology of subterranean termites (UF). Outside the lab, Zion enjoys building creative projects, liming around Antigua and blasting music way too loud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Composite Ecologies: Mapping Relational Dynamics in Complex Stakeholder Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-73832be3 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p><strong>Zion Michael<sup>1<\/sup>,and David Kong<sup>2<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-4b2eccd6 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p><sup>1<\/sup>Department of Mechanical Engineering, Florida International University<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>2<\/sup>Department of Media Arts and Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coral reefs are vital ecosystems under severe threat from climate change, pollution, and disease. While developments from synthetic biology like coral probiotics mitigate these impacts, technical innovations alone are insufficient for designing and implementing effective intervention strategies. Stakeholders, including local community groups, conservation scientists, government officials, and policymakers, all must be engaged and effectively organized to not only develop and deploy technical innovations, but also to design and implement other myriad approaches to coral conservation and regeneration. New design tools are needed to make relational dynamics visible, legible, and actionable. We present here a new\u2018Relational Design Language\u2019: a visual system that renders the often-invisible architecture of power, values, and interdependence within conservation contexts. Informed by social science and systems mapping, this approach enables organizers and community leaders to see the dynamics of their ecosystems, identify leverage points, and act with greater clarity and autonomy. Visual tools are essential not only for representing complexity, but for enabling organizers to form mental models that support decision-making, conflict resolution, and collective strategy. As design theorists and systems thinkers have long argued, the ability to see a system is often a precondition for transforming it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4492,"template":"","profile_category":[23],"class_list":["post-4491","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2025-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/4491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/4491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4828,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/4491\/revisions\/4828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=4491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}