Derek Cabrera

Dr. Derek Cabrera holds a PhD from Cornell University, has authored eight books, and is an internationally recognized expert in metacognition and systems thinking. His contributions to the field of systems thinking have been integrated into NSF, NIH, and USDA-NIFA programs nationwide. He has authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles and his research has been profiled in peer-reviewed journals, trade magazines, and popular publications. As a faculty member at Cornell University he designed and co-teaches (with his wife Laura Cabrera) the graduate course on systems thinking in Cornell’s Institute for Public Affairs. He was Research Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute for the Study of Complex Systems and a National Science Foundation IGERT Fellow in Nonlinear Systems. As a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow he developed new ways to incorporate systems approaches in the evaluation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education programs. Derek was awarded the Association of American Colleges and Universities' K. Patricia Cross Future Educational Leaders Award. His theoretical models of systems thinking have had impact worldwide, and he is US patent holder and inventor of the “metacognitive mapping” diagramming method, the VMCL model of organizational design, a universal tactile manipulative called ThinkBlocks, and MetaMap software - a suite of systems thinking tools used in K-12, higher education, NGOs, government agencies, corporations, and business schools. He is Senior Faculty at Cabrera Research Lab, and lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife and three children. Prior to his work as a systems scientist, Derek was a mountain guide and educator with Outward Bound and other experiential education programs around the world for more than twenty years.