Leadership
Derek Cabrera, Ph.D.
Founder & CEO
Derek Cabrera is nationally recognized expert in thinking skills. A
scientist, researcher, and educator, Derek has held appointments at
Cornell University, Santa Fe Institute, Regis University, and Edgewood
College. An inspirational speaker and workshop leader on topics
concerning education, thinking, and learning, he was awarded the
Association of American Colleges and Universities’ K. Patricia Cross
Future Educational Leaders Award.
His research focuses on critical, creative, and systemic thinking which
is informed by his interdisciplinary work in nonlinear and systems
sciences, evolutionary biology, cognition, human development, and
education to develop a better understanding of patterns that underlie
human thought.
Derek is Founder and CEO of ThinkWorks,
a company that develops thinking skills through products and workshops
for educators, parents, and organizational leaders. He holds a US
Patent for the revolutionary thinking method that underlies the design
of ThinkBlocks, an educational toy that teaches advanced thinking skills to children and adults.
Derek is a research fellow at the Santa Fe Institute for the study of complex systems. He was Visiting Fellow at Cornell University
where he taught the graduate-level course on systems thinking. Derek
was a National Science Foundation Post Doctoral Fellow and
Co-Investigator in the College of Human Ecology. He was also a National
Science Foundation IGERT Fellow in Nonlinear Systems at Cornell.
In addition, Derek is the author of the book, Remedial Genius,
and has been published in numerous journals and book chapters. Most
recently, Derek co-authored with Laura Colosi, a children’s book
called, Journey to Planet Knowledge.
For 14 years prior to founding ThinkWorks and his Cornell appointments,
Derek worked nationally and internationally as an educator and mountain
guide with Outward Bound
and other organizations. He has led high-altitude climbing expeditions
to the world’s most remote mountain regions and is an avid adventure
traveler. As a social entrepreneur, Derek led fundraising efforts to
establish the Aceh Relief Fund for victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and co-founded Children of Rural Africa
to develop schools in Nigeria. He has also founded or led several
successful for-profit and non-profit ventures and held several board of
directors seats.
Derek holds a Ph.D. in Education from Cornell University. He lives with his wife, son, and dog in Ithaca, New York.
Laura Colosi, Ph.D.
Chief Operations Officer
Laura Colosi is a well-known educator, evaluator, and expert in
research methods, with a particular focus on assessing educational
outreach programs. She has more than 15 years of research and teaching
experience at Cornell University in the area of parenting as it relates
to developing children who are better thinkers and learners.
Laura
taught coursework on Families and Social Policy in Cornell’s Department
of Human Development before she focused her research on issues relating
to parent and child well being such as increasing parent-child
interaction as a means to improve children’s academic and social
outcomes.
Laura is Chief Operating Officer of ThinkWorks, a
company that crystallized her vision of children who leave school
equipped with the tools necessary to thrive in any situation they face
in life. Established in 2007, the company’s core product, ThinkBlocks,
is a tactile manipulative educational tool that teaches essentially
important thinking skills to children and adults. In her role as COO,
Laura oversees all aspects of the business. In addition, Laura welcomes
the opportunity to educate any audience on the imperative of teaching
thinking skills, and how ThinkWorks teaching method and products help
parents, teachers, and other professionals reach their goals for their
children, students, or employees.
Laura’s work has been
published in Cornell’s resources for parents, academic journals, and
most recently, a co-authored a children’s book called Journey to Planet
Knowledge with Derek Cabrera. She is currently writing a five part
series for younger children to introduce them to the four simple rules
that underlie all thinking.
Prior to her work at Cornell and
ThinkWorks, Laura conducted research at the National Academy of
Sciences Institute of Medicine, The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, and The U.S. Department of Justice.
Laura holds a
Ph.D. in Policy Analysis and Management and a Masters in Public
Administration from Cornell University. She currently serves on the
Board for her children’s after school program, volunteers time in both
of her children’s elementary school classrooms, and lives in Ithaca
with her husband and two daughters.
Ergo the ThinkBlock
Chief Scientist of Ergo's Lab & ThinkWorks Mascot
Ergo is a an anthropomorphic ThinkBlock. He is the Chief Scientist of Ergo's Lab and
the Official Mascot of ThinkWorks, the company that teaches thinking.
As Mascot, Ergo visits classrooms and tradeshows and generally spreads
the word about the importance of thinking. Ergo is responsible for
managing the content of his Lab and making it as accessible and
user-friendly as possible.
Ergo is a natural born teacher of
four essential thinking skills: distinction making, interrelationships,
systems thinking and perspective taking. The secret to his pedagogical
ability is in his unique design. The name "Ergo" is derived from the
Latin for therefore, as in cogito ergo vigeo which means, "I think, therefore I thrive". Ergo's name, and his mission in life, is to be the causal link between thinking and thriving.
Ergo was recently featured in a children's book, Journey to Planet Knowledge
in which four children embark on a mission to a planet called
Knowledge. As their journey is coming to an end, they meet Ergo, who
teaches them about the importance of thinking differently.