Dr. Lautaro Cabrera (aka "LC") joined Smarty Pants as an Insights Whiz in 2022 with a vision of applying his youth and family research expertise to the business world. He now supports all phases of the research process – from conceptualization and methods design, to fieldwork and analysis, to creation of final deliverables. His work spans Smarty Pants’ leading tech, toy and game, and retail clients.  

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, LC has lived in the U.S. since 2012, when he began his studies at Ohio Wesleyan University. As he prepared for a graphic design career, he became fascinated by his psychology courses. He changed his major from graphic design to psychology and embarked upon a lifelong journey to understand how people think and feel.

LC’s time at Ohio Wesleyan included an internship with the university's preschool, where he ultimately worked for two years. Interacting with the children during his internship convinced him to delve deeper into developmental psychology. Upon graduating, he enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Maryland, College Park and obtained his Ph.D. in Technology and Learning, Policy and Leadership.  

At University of Maryland, LC had the opportunity to hone his qualitative and quantitative research skills investigating topics spanning parents' perceptions of the impact of video games, children's science learning through Minecraft, kids’ computing and programming mastery, and teachers’ classroom computing support needs.  

Following six months of post-doctoral research, LC joined the Smarty Pants ranks. He quickly transferred his academic training and primary research experience to the corporate clients who have come to rely on him and his Ph.D.-level expertise in graphic design, technology, psychology and education. LC is passionate about using rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods, creating compelling stories, and applying a keen design eye to help clients enhance their understanding of brands, products and consumers. And it shows in everything he touches.

When he's not conducting research, you can find LC playing recreational soccer, refereeing rugby, building LEGOs or outsmarting a worthy chess opponent. Oh, did we mention that he’s quite the brainiac?