Liz Gerber, Ph.D.
Professor at Northwestern University, Co-Director of Northwestern’s Center for Human Computer Interaction + Design, and Faculty Founder of Design for America
Preparing Leaders of Innovation
Innovation is critical to our economic and social prosperity. When we think about innovation, we often think about the outcome – the innovative ideas and products – yet it is people who develop, modify, and implement these ideas and products. Innovation work can be a challenging endeavor, requiring navigating ambiguous problem contexts, overcoming setbacks, and persisting in the face of the status quo. How are we preparing our kids to be leaders of innovation?
Liz Gerber, Ph.D. studies innovation, technology, and organizations. She is the Allen and Johnnie Breed Junior Chair of Design in the McCormick School of Engineering and School of Communication at Northwestern University, and a professor in the Segal Design Institute at NU. Gerber holds courtesy appointments in Management Science and Industrial Engineering, the Kellogg School of Management, and the School of Education and Social Policy. She is the principal investigator for The Creative Action Lab, which investigates how technology fosters innovation, specifically focusing on crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, and innovation education.
Gerber is the founder of Design for America, an award-winning nationwide network of interdisciplinary student teams and community members using design to create local and social impact. DFA offers students the opportunity to innovate solutions to real problems in their local community and empowers them to do creative, effective work. DFA studios are currently hosted by 14 different universities, with more than 2,000 students in their network and 350 core team members. DFA is a pipeline of innovators, change makers, and social entrepreneurs. DFA, its students, and projects have been featured in Fast Company, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and O, the Oprah Winfrey Magazine. As noted in a 2011 Fast Company article, the DFA approach is to “define, discover, reframe, ideate, prototype, and implement … to have an idea and make it happen.”
Gerber received her BA from Dartmouth College, and her MA and Ph.D. from Stanford University. Prior to DFA, she taught business and design at Stanford’s d.school and worked in the toy industry.
Upcoming Events
Dad Brain: The New Science of Fatherhood and How It Shapes Men’s Lives
Darby Saxbe, Ph.D.
Clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Southern California
Richard V. Reeves, Ph.D.
Founder and president of the American Institute for Boys and Men
ON ZOOM
Agency: The Psychological History of Human Progress
Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D.
Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Positive Psychology Center
James O. Pawelski, Ph.D.
Professor of practice and director of education in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania
ON ZOOM
Girlhood, Translated: Understanding Young Women in the Age of Therapy Speak and Self-Diagnosis
Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell, MD
Psychiatrist and Founding Director of the Academy for Medicine and the Humanities at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Erica Ghignone, MD
Medical Director at Compass Health Center Chicago
North Shore Country Day Auditorium
Note: Event start time is Central Time (CT).
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.


