Tessa is a cognitive scientist and co-founder of the Next Level Lab. She leads the lab’s research on learning transfer, creative cognition, learning in the flow of work, and AI.
Tessa teaches design thinking, creativity, and innovation at the Harvard Innovation Lab and Harvard University Division of Continuing Education, and served on the teaching faculty at Stanford’s design school for several years.
Outside her academic career, she is a member of the Senior Leadership Team at Silicon Valley design firm People Rocket. Previously, Tessa worked at IDEO CoLab and in Accenture’s Strategy, Insight, and Innovation team. Tessa is a recipient of the Australian American Chamber of Commerce Innovation Award, a Fast Company Design Award for General Excellence, and a Core 77 Design Award for Educational Product Design. She is also the author of the upcoming book Innovation-ish, which has been nominated for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year.
Tessa earned her B.A. (Honours) from the Australian National University, M.A. from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. from Harvard University.