A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. - Oscar Wilde

Luckily, I’ve managed to survive so far.

My name is Todd Wilkens. I study people and how they use things — words, beliefs, gadgets, etc. I also design and build stuff. Here’s a smattering of other things I’ve spent my time on:

• I work at Adaptive Path.
• I travel a lot to speak and teach about user experience and design research.
• I am ABD in Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. My main research areas were Culture, Religion, and Youth as well as education, social policy, and political sociology.
• I also spent 2 years pursuing a PhD in Information and Library Science at UNC (I switched programs — Info. Sci. just wasn’t people-oriented enough for me)
• I’m always trying to be a better Catholic
• I co-wrote and performed a farcical acoustic rock opera
• Before academia, I worked as an Interaction Designer, Information Architect, and sometimes engineer here, here, here, and here (though I’m a bit ashamed about that last one).
• I received a B.A. in Computer Science from the University of Texas, Austin, with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction, System Architecture, and Artificial Intelligence.
• I married an amazing woman who is smarter than me but is kind enough to pretend that she isn’t.
• And perhaps most importantly, I have been blessed with my wonderful children, Theda and Stefan.