Joan DiMicco

Joan DiMicco, PhD, brings deep industry expertise in digital innovation and data-driven product development to Boston University, where she teaches in the Department of Mass Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations, the Division of Emerging Media Studies, and through a courtesy appointment at the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS). Her teaching approach translates real-world business practice into essential skills for the next generation of media and technology leaders.

As Executive Director of Product at WBUR, Boston’s NPR News Station, Joan launched data-informed products like the Boston News Quiz and established analytical platforms that fundamentally changed how WBUR understands and serves its audiences. She also led WBUR’s BizLab, an innovation lab funded by Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, where she mentored public media leaders nationwide on product strategy and sustainable business models.

Previously, as Vice President of Digital Customer Experience at Forrester Research, Joan launched the company’s first mobile app and redesigned the digital product experience. She built a culture of innovation through hack-a-thons, user-centered design practices, and novel testing methodologies while managing Product, User Research, and Digital Production teams.

Joan’s foundation in data-driven research comes from her tenure as Research Scientist and Manager at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, where she led teams developing enterprise social media tools adopted by over 60,000 IBM employees. Her scholarly contributions include more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and multiple U.S. patents in human-computer interaction, social computing, and data visualization.