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Sheila Pontis, PhD, is Professor of Practice in Design and Director of the Information Design and Data Visualization (IDDV) graduate programs at Northeastern University, as well as partner at the design consultancy Sense Information Design. Combining design, and metacognitive, and creative strategies, her work bridges and contributes to several domains to empower people to reconnect with their imagination, envision new realities, and lead change — in their own lives and in society. Her recent research work focuses on deliberate cognitive creativity and its impact on wellbeing and happiness in college students and early career scientists.

With over 20+ years in higher education, Sheila taught at MIT, Princeton University, Parsons School of Design, and University College London, among other universities. Since 2020, she has led the postgraduate online course Creativity to Rethink Scientific Research for PhD biology students at Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata in Argentina. Her work has been published in several scientific journals. Sheila is also the author of three books: Making Sense of Field Research: A Practical Guide for Information Designers (Routledge, 2018), Communicating Knowledge Visually: Will Burtin’s Scientific Approach to Information Design (RIT Press, 2021, co-authored with R. Roger Remington), and Information Design Unbound: Key Concepts and Skills for Making Sense in a Changing World (Bloomsbury, November 2023, co-authored with Michael Babwahsingh).