Systems Thinking

Derek Cabrera (PhD, Cornell) is a systems scientist, and social entrepreneur and is internationally known for his work in systems thinking, systems leadership, and systems modeling. He is senior scientist at Cabrera Research Lab, and Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Plectica. He has given two TED Talks, written and produced a rap song, a children’s book on cognition, and authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles. His research has been profiled in peer-reviewed journals, trade magazines, and popular publications, and he is author of eight books including, Systems Thinking Made Simple: New Hope for Solving Wicked Problems (winner of the 2017 AECT outstanding book award), Thinking at Every Desk: Four Simple Skills to Transform Your Classroom, and Flock Not Clock: Align People, Processes, and Systems to Achieve your Vision. Credited with discovering the underlying rules of systems thinking, Cabrera is co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Systems Thinking. His work in public schools was documented in the full-length documentary film, RE:Thinking.

He was Research Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute (SFI) for the Study of Complex Systems and National Science Foundation IGERT Fellow in Nonlinear Systems in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics at Cornell University. As a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow, he developed new techniques to model systems approaches in the evaluation of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Cabrera was awarded the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ K. Patricia Cross Future Educational Leaders Award. He serves on the United States Military Academy at West Point’s Systems Engineering Advisory Board. His contributions to the field of systems thinking have been integrated into NSF, NIH, and USDA-NIFA programs, K-12, higher education, NGOs, federal agencies, corporations, and business schools. His systems models are used by many of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies. Systems Thinking Made Simple is used as an introductory text for undergraduate and graduate students in numerous colleges and universities including Cornell University and the US Military Academy at West Point. Cabrera has developed and patented a suite of systems thinking tools for use in academia, business, and beyond. Prior to becoming a scientist, Cabrera worked for fifteen years around the world as a mountain guide and experiential educator for Outward Bound and other organizations and has climbed many of the world’s highest mountains. He holds a PhD from Cornell University.

Laura Cabrera (PhD, Cornell) is a senior researcher at the Cabrera Research Lab and Chief Research Officer of Plectica. Over the past decade, Cabrera has applied her expertise in research methods and translational research to increase public understanding, practical application, and dissemination of sophisticated systems science and systems thinking models. Cabrera is the acting Executive Director of ThinkWater, a USDA-funded initiative designed to implement systems thinking nationwide in water-based research, extension, and education. She was a senior researcher at Cornell University’s Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and has more than fifteen years of research and teaching experience at Cornell University, where she taught coursework on families and social policy in Cornell’s Department of Human Development.

Prior to her work at Cornell, Cabrera 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. She has authored five books including Systems Thinking Made Simple: New Hope for Solving Wicked Problems and Thinking at Every Desk: Four Simple Skills to Transform Your Classroom (Norton). Cabrera holds a PhD in Policy Analysis and Management and a Master’s in Public Administration, and a bachelor’s degree, all from Cornell University. She is a member of the United States Military Academy at West Point’s Systems Engineering Advisory Board. She specializes in translating cutting-edge research from the learning sciences for broad application–whether in corporations, schools, nonprofits, government agencies, or for parents interested in the psychosocial development of their children.