Brian Uzzi
Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change
Co-Director, Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO)
Co-Director, Ryan Institute on Complexity
Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, McCormick School (Courtesy)
Professor of Sociology, Weinberg
Brian Uzzi is the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He also co-directs the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO), the Ryan Institute on Complexity, and holds professorships in Sociology and at the McCormick School of Engineering. He has been on or visited the faculties of INSEAD, Chicago, Harvard, and Berkeley. His work has received 17 teaching prizes and 15 scientific research prizes worldwide in the social, physical, and computer sciences.
His research uses social network science and computational methods to explain outstanding human achievement. Media outlets featuring his research include the WSJ, Newsweek, The Economist, The New Yorker, Fortune, other media outlets and TV, and scientific journals in management, physics, ecology, sociology, medicine, economics, psychology, and computer science have covered or published his research. Grants for his research have come from the U.S. government and private agencies.
A globally recognized scientist, teacher, and consultant on leadership, social networks, and AI, Brian consults for organizations and governments in over 30 countries, including the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), McKinsey, PWC, KPMG, Deloitte, Baker and McKenzie, Pepsico, P&G, Kraft, Abbott Labs, UNITE, Total Quality Schools, Hearst Media, the World Bank, ABN AMBRO, CreditSuisse, AON, U.S. intelligence agencies, Thomson Reuters, BAE, Google, MicroSoft, Intel, Facebook, and non-profits worldwide.
Before Kellogg, Brian worked as a management consultant, carpenter, and musician. He holds an MS is in social psychology from Carnegie-Mellon University and a Ph.D. in sociology from The State University of New York at Stony Brook.
To read more about Professor Brian Uzzi's research and teaching, and his Forbes column on AI, visit his personal web site: kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/uzzi/index.htm
- Social Networks
- Complexity Theory
- Embeddedness
- Diffusion
- Leadership
- Persuasion
- Networks
- Teams
- Decision Making
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PhD, 1994, Sociology, State University of New York, Stony Brook
MA, 1991, State University of New York, Stony Brook
MS, 1989, Organizational Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
BA, 1982, Business Economics, Hofstra University -
Faculty Director, Kellogg Architectures of Collaboration Initiative (KACI), Northwestern University, 2013-present
Co-Director, Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO), Northwestern University, 2007-present
Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering (Courtesy), Northwestern University, 2007-present
Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2006-present
Professor of Sociology, Weinberg College of Arts of Sciences (Courtesy), Northwestern University, 2005-present
Professor of Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2005-present
Warren E. and Carol Spieker Chair in Leadership, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, 2007-2008
Visiting Professor of Strategy, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, 2004-2005
Summer Fellow, Santa Fe Institute, 2003
Summer Fellow, Santa Fe Institute, 2002
Visiting Professor of Strategy and Organization Behavior, INSEAD, 1999-2000
Faculty Fellow, Insitute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, 1998-2000
Associate Professor of Sociology, Weinberg College of Arts of Sciences (Courtesy), Northwestern University, 1996-2004
Associate Professor of Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1996-2004
Assistant Professor of Sociology, Weinberg College of Arts of Sciences (Courtesy), Northwestern University, 1993-1995
Assistant Professor of Management, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 1993-1995 -
Chairs Core Teaching Award, Kellogg School of Management, Kellogg School of Management, 2022-203
2023 Network Science Society Annual Meetings Keynote Speaker, The Network Science Society, 2023
2023 Distinguished Lecture in Leadership, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, 2023
Chairs Core Teaching Award, 2022, 1 year
Euler Award, 2022, Lifetime
Professor of the Year, 2021, Kellogg-Racanti Executive MBA Program
Euler Award, 2022, Network Science Society, 2022-2023
Professor of the Year, 2020, Kellogg Executive MBA Program, 2018-2020
Fellow of the Network Science Society, Network Science Society, 2020
Professor of the Year, 2019, Kellogg-Racanti Executive MBA Program
World Wide Web (WWW) Best Paper Prize, 25th World Wide Web Conference, 2016-2017
Star-Nelkin Science, Knowledge and Technology Award, Honorable Mention, American Sociological Association, 2015
Starred Outstanding Paper Award, Conference on Complex Systems, 2015
Professor of the Year, 2014, Kellogg Executive MBA Program
Professor of the Year, 2013, Kellogg-Racanti Executive MBA Program, 2013
Vanguard Award for Science, La Vanguardia, 2011
Kellogg Alumni Professor of the Year Award, Kellogg School of Management, 2009
Executive MBA Program Outstanding Teaching Awards, Kellogg School of Management, 2007, 1999
Professor of the Year, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 2007
W. Richard Scott Best paper Prize, American Sociological Association, 2006
Professor of the Year, Kellogg Hong Kong University of Science and Techonology Executive MBA Program, 2004
Distinguished Scholarly Contribution Award, Administrative Science Quarterly, 2003
W. Richard Scott Best paper Prize, American Sociological Association, 2002
Professor of the Year, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 1999
Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 1994-1995
Louis Pondy Best Paper Disseration Award, Academy of Management Assocation, 1994
Faculty Teaching Honor Role, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 1993-present
Institute for Socio Economics Best Conference paper Prize, Institute for Socio Economics, 1993
Institute for Management Science Dissertation Proposal Award, Institute for Management Science, 1992 -
Referee, Industrial and Corporate Change, 2023
Referee, Nature Scientific Reports, 2017-2018
Referee, Nature Communications, 2017-2018
Referee, Nature Human Behavior, 2017-2018
Ad-hoc Reviewer, Science
Managing Editor, PNAS
Ad-hoc Reviewer, Nature
Ad-hoc Reviewer, American Journal of Sociology
Ad-hoc Reviewer, Administrative Science Quarterly
Ad-hoc Reviewer, American Sociological Reivew
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