To sustain and enhance innovation in our country, we need leaders who can routinely innovate solutions to complex, ill-defined problems. I study and design social computing systems to support innovation.
Practically, I draw from my professional experience as a designer, social scientist, and manager. Theoretically, I draw from her academic training in social psychology, organizational behavior, design, and social computing.
As the Breed Junior Chair of Design at Northwestern University, Faculty Founder of Design for America, and OpEd Fellow, I write about human computer interaction, design, and innovation.
My current research focuses on understanding the work of social innovators in online and offline communities. This work brings a unique perspective of contemporary practices such as crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, brainstorming, and prototyping, etc. – and provides a strong foundation for designing engaging social environments that promote innovation and leadership.
I received my doctoral and master’s degrees in Management Science and Engineering and Product Design from Stanford, my bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth, and have worked professionally as a designer.
To support my mission of amplifying innovation in our country, I am actively designing a new national collaborative innovation initiative called Design for America. Design for America students and mentors tackle local innovation projects with social impact. Design for America has been featured in Fast Company, Oprah, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and The Chicago Tribune. Currently, Design for America has 2000 members in its network.
Prior to Design for America, I helped to develop the business and design initiative at the Stanford d.school.
I teach Design Thinking and Communication, and Human Centered Design, and Communication Design at the Segal Design Institute in the McCormick School of Engineering and in the School of Communication at Northwestern University.
Link to CV
Recent Work
Briam, R. & Gerber, E. Analysis of a Team Effort in Coordinating Resources Through a University-Sponsored Crowdfunding Platform, Science of Team Science, WIP 2013
Phelan, P., Lewis Rees, D., Easterday, M. Gerber, E. Using Mobile Technology To Support Innovation Education, Computer Supported Cooperative Work WIP 2013
Hui, J. Greenberg. Gerber, E. Easy Money: The Demands of Crowdfunding Work, Computer Human Interaction WIP 2013
Greenberg, M., Hui, J., Gerber, E. Crowdfunding: A Resource Exchange Perspective, Computer Human Interaction WIP 2013
Greenberg, M., Pardo, B., Gerber, E. Classifying Success and Failure on Kickstarter: A Machine Learning Approach, Computer Human Interaction WIP 2013
Dow, S. Gerber, E., Wong, A. Crowd Driven Innovation, Conference on Computer Human Interaction, Paris, France, 2013
Gerber, E. Why Do People Give on Crowdfunding Sites? NPR Marketplace
Gerber, E. Does Crowdfunding Fail Some of the Most Promising Entrepreneurs? Huffington Post 2013
Kittur, N., Bernstein, M., Nickerson, J., Gerber, E., Shaw, A., Lease, M. Zimmerman, J., Horton, J. The Future Of CrowdWork. Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Austin, TX 2013
Gerber, E. STEM Students Must Be Taught to Fail, US News and World Report, November 23, 2012
Gerber, E., Hui, J., Kuo, P. Crowdfunding: Why People are Motivated to Participate. Segal Technical Report 2012
Hui, J., Gerber, E., Greenberg, M. Easy Money: The Demands of Crowdfunding Work, Segal Technical Report 2012
Greenberg, M., & Gerber, E. Crowdfunding: A Survey and Taxonomy, Segal Technical Report
Morris, R., Dontcheva, M., Gerber, E., Finkelstein, A. Using Music-evoked Affect to Enhance Performance on Micro-Task Crowdsourcing Platforms, Segal Technical Report