ThinkWorkers
Derek Cabrera, PhD
Founder & President
Dr. Derek Cabrera is an internationally recognized expert in thinking skills and metacognition. He is an active scientist, entrepreneur and teacher. He is senior faculty of the Research Institute for Thinking in Education and President and Founder of ThinkWorks. He holds a PhD from Cornell University and has served as faculty at Cornell, where he taught the graduate-level course on systems thinking. He was also a research fellow at the Santa Fe Institute for the study of complex systems. He has presented nationally and internationally on the importance of metacognition (thinking about one's thinking) and various educational topics. He has presented his research nationally and internationally on educational topics, thinking skills, and learning. He has worked extensively with teachers and senior staff in districts throughout the United States.
He was National Science Foundation Post Doctoral Fellow as well as a National Science Foundation IGERT Fellow in Nonlinear Systems at Cornell. His research focuses on systems thinking and thinking universals and is grounded in interdisciplinary work in nonlinear and systems sciences, evolutionary biology, cognition, human learning, and organizational design. Derek was awarded the Association of American Colleges and Universities' K. Patricia Cross Future Educational Leaders Award and was profiled in the book, Heroes of Giftedness.
His research led to the development of two paradigm-shifting models: VMCL and DSRP. He holds a U.S. Patent for the "DSRP Method" that underlies the design of both ThinkBlocks (a tactile tool he invented that teaches advanced thinking skills to children and adults) and the DSRP Diagramming Method (a visual idea mapping technique). Derek's "VMCL Method" is a robust framework for conceptualizing, leading, and managing an adaptive learning organization through systems thinking.
Derek is the author of numerous books, book chapters, peer-reviewed journals articles, and whitepapers and his research has been profiled in refereed journals, trade magazines, and popular publications. His VMCL and DSRP models are used in businesses, NGOs, government agencies, school districts, universities, and business schools around the world.
Derek worked for over a decade both nationally and internationally as a mountain climbing guide with Outward Bound and other organizations. An avid adventure traveler and arm-chair anthropologist, he has led high-altitude climbing expeditions to the world's most remote mountain regions and visited tribal communities around the world. As a social entrepreneur, Derek led fundraising efforts to establish the Aceh Relief Fund for victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and cofounded Children of Rural Africa to develop orphanage schools in Nigeria.
He brings his array of diverse experiences as a mountain climber, educator, scientist, and entrepreneur to bear in his dynamic workshops for educators.
Laura Colosi, PhD
Vice President
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 fifteen 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—for example, increasing parent-child interaction as a means to improve children's academic and social outcomes.
Since 2007, Laura has served as Vice President of ThinkWorks. This company crystallizes her vision of how schools can equip children with the thinking skills they need in order to thrive in any situation they will face in life. In addition to overseeing all aspects of the business, Laura welcomes the opportunity to educate any audience on the imperative of teaching thinking skills and on how the teaching method and products offered by ThinkWorks help parents, teachers, and other professionals to 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, the children's book Journey to Planet Knowledge, coauthored 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 PhD in Policy Analysis and Management and a Master’s in Public Administration, both from Cornell University. She currently serves on the board for her children's after-school program and volunteers time in their elementary-school classrooms. Laura lives in Ithaca with her two daughters.
Greg Wheeler
Director of Support
607-330-4814 email
Greg is available to make sure that every teacher can successfully use the Patterns of Thinking with their students. As a former high-school Language Arts teacher in the Washington DC public schools, he appreciates the joys and challenges of the classroom: the place where theory meets practice. Besides assisting educators, Greg records what they do as the videographer of ThinkWorks events and ThinkBlocks lessons and promotes their networking as our official blogger.
Eriko Akamatsu
Director of Operations
607-330-4814 email
In addition to working behind-the-scenes to keep ThinkWorks running smoothly, Eriko designs many of the posters, handouts, and slides that help make our trainings a success. With her knack for lesson planning, Eriko helps educators around the world teach both thinking skills and content knowledge. Before joining ThinkWorks, Eriko taught Japanese language courses at Cornell University and the University of Maryland. She has also taught in elementary, middle, and high schools in both Japan and the United States.
Leighton Arnold
Cornell University Intern
A physics student at Cornell University, Leighton assists in any number of projects at ThinkWorks. He juggles mundane administrative tasks with jobs that require deep thinking and technical know-how.
