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Derek Cabrera is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ThinkWorks, the company that teaches thinking. He is a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University and a Research Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute for the Study of Complex Systems. Cabrera's research focuses on analytical, creative, and systemic thinking; he applies interdisciplinary work in nonlinear and systems sciences, evolutionary biology, cognition, human development and education to better understanding patterns that underlie human thought. Cabrera also invented (and holds a US Patent for) the ThinkToy system, a tactile manipulative toy that teaches advanced abstract thinking skills to children and adults.

Prior to his current appointments, he was a National Science Foundation Post Doctoral Fellow and Co-Investigator in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. He was also a National Science Foundation IGERT Fellow in Nonlinear Systems at Cornell and is the recipient of the Association of American Colleges and Universities' K. Patricia Cross Future Educational Leaders Award. He is the author of the book, Remedial Genius, numerous refereed journal articles, and book chapters.

For 14 years prior to ThinkWorks and Cornell, Cabrera 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, he 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 founded and/or led several successful for-profit and non-profit ventures and held/holds several board of directors seats.

Derek Cabrera holds a Ph.D. in Education from Cornell University.