Nick Okafor
HAI Graduate Fellow
Nick Okafor (he/him), a strategist and design researcher, is a doctoral student in the Management Science and Engineering Department at Stanford University, where his research focuses on the practice and pedagogy of responsible innovation. He puts research into practice as the founder of trubel&co, a nonprofit championing the next generation to tackle complex societal problems using equitable data analytics, responsible technology, and inclusive design, reshaping society for the better. Previously, Nick was a Senior Associate at Sidewalk Labs (Google's urban innovation arm), where he drove commercialization for emerging products that improve quality of life in cities. He advocates for a radical reimagining of the tools used to create a more just and equitable society, and is committed to ensuring the digital revolution can increase opportunity, mitigate harm, and create liberatory futures for all. Nick is analyzing how organizational dynamics drive the efficacy of responsibility in tech firms, assessing how business models, partnership structure, & organizational design shape the ability to center ethics and impact. In tandem, he is researching how liberatory pedagogies can be effectively integrated into innovation coursework and ecosystems.
Department: Management Science and Engineering