Ellis Ballard is Director of the Social System Design Lab. His research and teaching focus on advancing participatory approaches to system dynamics modeling with communities and group model building practice methods in cross-cultural contexts. He is the specialization chair for the Brown School’s System Dynamics Specialization and teaches courses in Community Based System Dynamics, Designing Sustainable Policies and Programs, and SD advanced methods Skill Labs.

Prior to joining the SSDL, Ellis worked in disability rights advocacy and research. He advanced disability rights advocacy in U.S foreign affairs and contributed to capacity building efforts and program evaluations with community-based organizations and disabled people’s organizations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Ellis has a Masters of Social Work and a Masters of Public Health from the Brown School at Washington University and a Bachelor’s degree in English and History from Oberlin College in Ohio. In his free time he is an active cyclist and a budding gardener.