Dr. Ching-Fu Lan, founder of Citizen Invention, is an educator, interactive technologist, and researcher formerly at EdLab, Columbia University. He was a long-time contributor to New Learning Times, where he wrote commentaries, technology reviews and research digest about the latest trend in education and technology.

As an experienced qualitative researcher and educator who works extensively with K-12 and adult learners, he appreciates the human-centered focus of design thinking to foster creativity, and has used this approach in workshops for both learners and educators to create innovative solutions to various problems. Combining his interests in maker technologies, design thinking and social education, he is exploring the creative experience of everyday invention for both learners and educators through design thinking courses and workshops.

Dr. Lan holds a M.S. Ed from University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in education from Teachers College, Columbia University.