Hi. I’m Davis and I’m from Lebanon.

No, not the country. Lebanon, Pa. It’s where I grew up. See that handsome guy up there? That’s my grandpa. He lived and grew up in Lebanon, too. I learned a lot from him while he was still around. (This photo is from a bear hunt he undertook in Kodiak, Ak.)

Walking around Lebanon with my grandpa, I thought he knew everyone. And as one of the town’s few practicing obstetricians, he just might have. No matter where he went, he was able to strike up a conversation and stay interested by whatever he found. My own father (my grandfather’s son-in-law) is a physician, too, and their so-called bedside manner was a manner of relating to people in a way that put them at ease and let them know that you understood where they were coming from. In a word, empathy.

Whether through writing or empathic design, the ability to imagine oneself as a reader, user, or consumer gives the opportunity for realizations and ideas that would never have otherwise been generated. I view the liberal arts as a vital element in the process of innovation. At Penn State University, I graduated from the Schreyer Honors College with interdisciplinary honors in history and science, technology, and society. My professional background is on LinkedIn and I tweet at @davisshaver.