Principals
Lia A. DiBello Ph.D.,
President & Director of Research
lia.dibello@wtri.com
Dr. DiBello has been active in work place research for over 18 years as a research associate at IBM Cognitive Science Labs, a Senior Research Associate at Laboratory for Cognitive Studies of Work and as Principal Investigator for The Workplace Technology Research Group, located in the Center for Advanced Research in Education at the graduate school of the City University of New York. For three years, (1994-1997) she was a visiting professor at the University of California at San Diego. She has developed performance improvement interventions for several large companies and led a project for the largest North American public transit agency, New York City Transit, as well as several large projects for major manufacturing, biotech and technology companies.
Dr. DiBello received her Ph.D. in psychology from CUNY Graduate School, where she studied under the late Distinguished Professor Sylvia Scribner, author of many, now classic, books and articles on cross-cultural and workplace specific cognition and learning. Since 1987, Dr. DiBello’s work has focused on workplace cognition and learning in high tech environments; she has been working directly with various industries on large-scale technology implementations.
As Research Director for WTRI, she has developed many innovative (non-verbal) methods of assessing skill and business judgment among executives She is currently PI on three research grants. She has been awarded 11 research grants since coming to WTRI.
She is best known for the development of a particular kind of activity-based “operational simulation” approach that has been shown to greatly accelerate learning through cognitive reorganization. Studies of over 5000 people at all levels exposed to DiBello’s methods indicate that learning was accelerated by several months in all cases. Other studies indicate that unprecedented performance improvements and significant competitive advantages were achieved by companies using DiBello's methods.
In addition to her applied work in industry, Dr. DiBello has authored numerous journal articles, book chapters and presentations and has taught several courses on the development of expertise, technology deployment and design, and accelerated organizational change. She is frequently invited as a speaker at conference and professional meetings.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
2003 |
Member of The Congressional Business Advisory Council |
1999 - Present |
Chair, Task Force on Professional Capability Building sponsored by American Public Transportation Association Committee on Research and Technology. |
1998 - Present |
Member of TCRP Project Panel A-20B Training for New Technology. National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board, National Academy of Sciences |
1997 |
Learning and Work Working Group; Russell Sage Foundation Appointed and Funded Committee assigned the task of formulating A Cognitive Science of Work Force Development exploring the implications of workplace research. |
1995 |
Book Review Editor Mind Culture and Activity |