About ME

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Email: schmidt@id.iit.edu
Twitter: @ruthkschmidt
LinkedIn: @rkschmidt
Mastodon @ruthkschmidt@masto.ai

I am an Associate Professor at the Institute of Design (ID) at Chicago’s Illinois Institute of Technology, where I focus on the intersection of behavioral economics and humanity-centered design (HCD) by combining strategic design methods and an understanding of latent human needs with behavioral insights to inform solutions concerning human judgment, decision-making, and behavior.

Where HCD contributes a deep knowledge of humans in a here-and-now present state, providing a rich set of data in the form of specific user needs in a current context, behavioral insights supply a perpendicular set of data about more “evergreen,” longitudinal attributes of perception and behaviors. For the most part these fields have functioned separately and in parallel, both focusing on human behaviors and functions but in different ways. Over the past twelve years my work has focused primarily on blurring this line: integrating behavioral insights into design methodologies and integrating design thinking into behavioral problem-solving in the form of practical applications, the development of new tools and frameworks that are currently lacking, and new theory to contribute new conceptual models.

Prior to this, I was a senior leader at Doblin, an innovation consultancy within Deloitte, where I led the development of applied behavioral and design methodologies to help clients develop innovation solutions and embed innovation processes more effectively within their organizations across health care, financial services, education, and civic domains. I have a BA in Art-Semiotics from Brown University and a Masters of Design from the Institute of Design.