Dr. Liz Chen

Featured Presentation

How to Design & Execute an Experiment on Any Idea

Have lots of ideas for prototyping but not sure where to start? Want step-by-step guidance on how to design and execute experiments? Or guidance on how to teach and coach others to design and execute experiments? Join our interactive workshop to learn how our team of expert design thinkers (including Jeanne Liedtka at UVA Darden and David Kester, the former Head of the UK Design Council) have synthesized lessons learned after decades of experience and working with hundreds of clients into a comprehensive experimentation process. Whether you teach design thinking at a university, practice design thinking in your day job, or like to apply design thinking to your life outside work, our five-step experimentation process will be helpful as you plan, implement, and reflect. Our five steps include: 1) framing testable ideas, 2) establishing metrics, 3) selecting a test, 4) building the prototype, and 5) executing, analyzing & iterating. We will offer tools and resources for you to use beyond the workshop and look forward to hearing your questions and feedback as our thinking in this space continues to evolve.

About Liz

Liz is Design Thinking Lead at The University at North Carolina at Chapel Hill and serves as the co-director for the graduate Certificate in Innovation for the Public Good (CIPG). She teaches a popular semester-long course titled HBEH 748: Design Thinking for the Public Good and enjoys working with others to integrate design thinking into teaching, research, and practice. Liz earned her MPH and PhD in the Department of Health Behavior at UNC-CH and was formally trained in human-centered design by IDEO in San Francisco. Earlier in her career, Liz taught high school science with Teach For America and co-founded a tech nonprofit, MyHealthEd, Inc., that launched Real Talk, a storytelling app with the goal of improving adolescents’ mental and behavioral health outcomes. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for Social Entrepreneurs in 2018. Outside of work, Liz enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband Dale and daughter Maisie (age 2), traveling, and trying new vegetarian recipes.