Donald Norman

Who is Donald Norman?

Dr. Norman is Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern

University and cofounder of the Nielsen Norman Group, an executive

consulting firm that helps companies produce human-centered products

and services. Norman serves as advisor and board member to numerous

companies in high technology and consumer products and to non-profit

organizations in the area of policy and education.

Norman has served as Vice President of the Advanced Technology Group

at Apple Computer and as an executive at Hewlett Packard and UNext, a

distance education company. He is Professor Emeritus at the University

of California, San Diego where he was founding chair of the Department

of Cognitive Science and chair of the Department of Psychology. He is a

trustee of the Institute of Design in Chicago, IL.

Norman received a B.S. degree from MIT and an MS degree from the

University of Pennsylvania, both in Electrical Engineering. His

doctorate, from the University of Pennsylvania, is in Psychology. In

1995, he received an honorary degree from the University of Padua

(Italy).

He has been a faculty member at Harvard University. Dr. Norman is

Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where he

was founding chair of the Department of Cognitive Science and chair of

the Department of Psychology. He was one of the founders of the

Cognitive Science Society and has been chair of the society and editor

of its journal, Cognitive Science. He is a fellow of the Human Factors

Ergonomics Society, the American Psychological Society, and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association for Computing

Machinery (ACM). In 2002 he received the "Lifetime Achievement Award"

from SIGCHI, the professional organization for Computer-Human

Interaction. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in

the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford).

Prof. Norman has served on numerous advisory boards including The

Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Academy

of Sciences; The Technology Advisory Committee for Merrill Lynch; The

School of Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology; the Center

for Lifelong Learning and Design, University of Colorado, Boulder, and

the College Board. He is on the steering committee of The Learning

Federation and is a trustee of the Institute of Design in Chicago.

Dr. Norman was the lead negotiator for Apple in the discussions

between the computer and television industries in the development of an

Advanced Digital TV system for the United States.

Dr. Norman has published extensively in journals and books, and is

the author or co-author of thirteen books, with translations into

twelve languages, including "The Design of Everyday Things," and

"Things That Make Us Smart." His latest book is "The Invisible

Computer: Why good products can fail, the PC is so complex, and

information appliances are the answer." Business Week has called this

"the bible of the 'post PC' thinking."