I am an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. I received my PhD in Developmental and Psychological Science from the Stanford University School of Education in 2011. Prior to beginning my career as a researcher, I was a middle school teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I also hold an MEd in Secondary English and a BA in the Program of Liberal Studies from the University of Notre Dame, as well as an MA in Psychology from Stanford University. Examples of social problems our work is trying to address include adolescent bullying, aggression, depression, stress, psychosomatic health, healthy eating, cheating, and academic underperformance. My work sits at the intersection of developmental, social, personality and educational psychology. I am interested in understanding the processes shaping adolescent development, especially how differences in adolescents’ social cognitions–their interpretations of social events and the beliefs that underlie these–can contribute to positive or negative trajectories for youth. I focus on the life experiences and environments that give rise to social cognitive tendencies, on the interaction between social cognitions and the home or school environment, and on opportunities for redirecting social cognitions during developmental transitions. I primarily conduct randomized experiments, often in school settings, because I believe, as Bronfenbrennar and Lewin did, that a good way to understand the system of forces affecting behavior and development is to try to change it. In addition, in the process of designing experiments, we may create interventions that, with some adaptation, may be useful for addressing important problems facing society. This approach is directly informed by Geoff Cohen, Greg Walton, and Carol Dweck. I am also deeply interested in problems of scaling innovations in the social sciences. In collaborative field experimental work with Geoff Cohen, we are studying the psychological barriers to the implementation of novel solutions from rigorous experimental behavioral science. With Greg Walton, Mary Murphy and PERTS, we are attempting to create a field of “psychological design,” which refers to a process for contextualizing psychological interventions using user-centered design principles and then evaluating them through large-scale randomized experiments. In projects carried out with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, we are learning how to use the techniques of improvement science, imported from the healthcare industry, to learn how to achieve efficacy with reliability in the scaling of psychological research. The second half of my research is methodological. I study the psychology of asking and answering questions as well as the implications of these insights for optimizing self-reports. In addition, I study the differences in accuracy in national samples collected through probability methods as opposed to non-probability methods, and the conditions under which these two methods do or do not converge in their estimates. Much of this research is in collaboration with Jon Krosnick. I also have a deep interest in educational measurement and in methods to create and broadly apply measures of psychological factors affecting student outcomes. Because many psychological measures were created for theory development, and not for use by practitioners, I have been involved in developing a theory of “Practical Measurement” with Tony Bryk, as well as collaborating with Sidney D’Mello and Angela Duckworth on the creation of novel, scalable performance tasks to assess the so-called “non-cognitive factors” affecting students. I frequently collaborate with PERTS. I have an appointment at the UT Dana Center, where I work with Uri Treisman on understanding the psychological influences on math performance at key developmental transitions, such as the start of Algebra 1 in high school or beginning college. In addition, I am a Fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where I work on their mathematics pathway initiatives. I am a member of the Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group and the New Paths to Purpose network, both at the University of Chicago. Finally, I am a Faculty Research Associate at the University of Texas Population Research Center. Besides conducting experiments, my interests include: providing critical feedback, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, and karaoke.

Dr. Mary Murphy is the Herman B. Wells Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Associate Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion at Indiana University. In the area of education, her research illuminates the situational cues—like faculty and institutional mindset—that influence students’ academic motivation and achievement with an emphasis on understanding when those processes are similar and different for majority and minority students. She develops, implements, and evaluates social psychological interventions that reduce identity threat and spur students’ motivation, persistence, and performance. Mary is a co-founder of the College Transition Collaborative, a research-practice partnership aimed to increase student success through social psychological interventions. Mary earned a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD from Stanford University. She completed a NSF postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University. In 2012, she joined the faculty of Indiana University and, in 2013, was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science (APS). In 2019, she was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)—the highest honor bestowed on early career scientists by the United States Government. She is the recipient of over $8 million in federal and foundation grants including a recent $2.2 million NSF CAREER award for her research on strategies to improve diversity in STEM. Her research has been profiled in The New York Times, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Scientific American, and NPR, among other outlets.

Carol Dweck is one of the most influential and pioneering social science scholars of the past three decades. Bridging the fields of social psychology, developmental psychology, and personality psychology, she examines the self-conceptions people use to structure the self and guide their behavior. Her research looks at the origins of these self-conceptions, their role in motivation and self-regulation, and their impact on achievement and interpersonal processes. Her bestselling book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, explores how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. Her work has been featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and she has appeared on Today and 20/20.

Rodney Robinson is a 19-year teaching veteran. He became a teacher to honor his mother, who struggled to receive an education after being denied an education as a child due to segregation and poverty in rural Virginia. In 2015, Robinson started teaching at Virgie Binford Education Center, a school inside the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center, in an effort to better understand the school-to-prison pipeline. Robinson uses the whole child approach to education to help the students who are most vulnerable. His classroom is a collaborative partnership between himself and his students and is anchored in him providing a civic centered education that promotes social-emotional growth. Robinson uses the knowledge he has gained from his students to develop alternative programs to prevent students from entering the school-to-prison pipeline. Robinson has been published three times by Yale University and has received numerous awards for his accomplishments in and out of the classroom, most notably the R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence. He is a member of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney’s Education Compact Team, which includes politicians, educators, business leaders, and community leaders, and is working with city leaders and local colleges to recruit underrepresented male teachers into the field of education. He has also worked with Pulitzer Award winning author James Foreman on developing curriculum units on race, class, and punishment as a part of the Yale Teacher’s Institute. Robinson earned a Bachelor of arts in history from Virginia State University and a master’s in educational administration and supervision from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Rehema Ellis is NBC News’ Chief Education correspondent and reports for all platforms of NBC News, including NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Today, NBCNews.com, and MSNBC. Ellis joined NBC News in 1994 as a general assignment correspondent. She began her broadcast career at KDKA Radio and TV in Pittsburgh. Later, she worked in Boston at WHDH-TV as a reporter and weekend anchor. Ellis has been part of major headliner stories, including the attacks on the World Trade Center. She was the first person to identify the attack on the air as “Nine-Eleven”. She has reported on Hurricane Katrina, the death of Michael of Jackson and the Haiti earthquake. She has distinguished herself as a lead correspondent and received numerous awards including local and national Emmys, Edward R. Murrow Awards, Associated Press awards and awards from the National Association of Black Journalists. She is also a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Journalism. Ellis was part of the NBC Emmy award-winning coverage of the plane crash in the Hudson River called “Miracle on the Hudson” in 2008. She also won an Emmy for her reporting on the 2008 Presidential Election of Barack Obama and his historic inauguration. Born in North Carolina, and raised in Boston, she graduated from Simmons College in Boston and Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York. Ellis currently lives in New York City with her son. She is on Twitter @RehemaEllis.

Sarah Brown Wessling is a 21-year veteran of the high school English classroom. While a member of the faculty at Johnston High School in Johnston, Iowa she has taught courses ranging from at-risk to Advanced Placement and has served the department and district in a variety of leadership roles. Sarah is a National Board Certified Teacher since 2005 and in 2010 was selected as the National Teacher of the Year. In that capacity she worked as an ambassador for education, giving over 250 talks and workshops in 39 different states as well as internationally. Currently she maintains a hybrid teaching position which keeps her in the classroom and allows her to write, speak and work on teacher leadership initiatives around the country. Sarah is Laureate Emeritus for the non-profit Teaching Channel. She is an author of Supporting Students in a Time of Core Standards and maintains a blog with the column “Ask Sarah” at sarahbrownwessling.com.

Lieutenant General Jay Silveria is the Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. As Superintendent he serves as both a college president and military commander for the Academy, directing a four-year program of undergraduate education, military training, athletics, and character development. Graduates earn a Bachelor of Science degree and a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. General Silveria grew up in an Air Force family and is a 1985 graduate of the Academy he now leads. He has commanded a fighter squadron, an air and space operations center, a fighter wing, and the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center. Prior to becoming Superintendent, he was the Deputy Commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command and Deputy Commander of Central Command's Combined Air Force Component, responsible for command and control of air operations over a 20-nation area in Central and Southwest Asia. As a command pilot with more than 3,900 flight hours in a variety of aircraft, he has flown combat missions in the F-15E, served in combat roles in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, and was the first general officer to qualify to fly the F-35A.

At the United States Air Force Academy, General Silveria guides a leadership team, faculty and staff that is dedicated to the institution’s enduring core values while embracing the energy of change and innovation of this rising generation. As a central priority of his leadership, all who live, work, learn and serve at the Academy will treat one another with dignity and respect, so that the character traits fostered in its developing leaders will shape the future culture of the United States Air Force.

ELENA FAVILLI is an award-winning author, journalist and breaker of glass ceilings. She has written for the Guardian, COLORS magazine, McSweeney’s, RAI, Il Post, La Repubblica, and has managed digital newsrooms on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2016, she published the most crowdfunded literary project in history, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. She subsequently founded Rebel Girls, a digital media company dedicated to highlighting and exploring the lives of trailblazing women. Elena currently sits as CEO of Rebel Girls and lives in Los Angeles with her dog Lafayette, a Bracco Italiano.

Christopher Emdin is an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also serves as Associate Director of the Institute for Urban and Minority Education. The creator of the #HipHopEd social media movement and Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S., author of the award-winning book Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation and the New York Times Best Seller, For White Folks Who Teach In The Hood and the Rest of Ya’ll Too. Emdin was named the 2015 Multicultural Educator of the Year by the National Association of Multicultural Educators and has been honored as a STEM Access Champion of Change by the White House under President Obama. In addition to teaching, he served as a Minorities in Energy Ambassador for the US Department of Energy.

Valorie Kondos Field is the retired head coach of the seven-time NCAA Champion, 22-time Regional and 18-time Pac 12 Champion UCLA Women’s Gymnastics team. Inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010, the four-time “National Coach of the Year” was also named “West Region Coach” of the Year and Pac 12 “Coach of the Century” for her solid track record as a preeminent coach. Affectionately known by her gymnasts as “Miss Val,” her reputation is only one reason that 46 former US national team members came through her program and why half of the last two Olympic teams committed to UCLA. Valorie’s coaching success can be attributed to her extraordinary leadership and mentorship of young student-athletes, and the way in which she used gymnastics as an avenue through which to teach valuable life lessons, while encouraging individuality and joy. Something Valorie learned from the late John Wooden, the legendary and most successful collegiate basketball coach of all time, who was one of her biggest inspirations, as well as a close mentor and friend. Valorie began her career as a professional ballet dancer and choreographer for the Washington, DC and Sacramento Ballet Companies. Although never a gymnast herself, she’s transferred to her student-athletes all she learned in the world of classical dance. The result of which resulted in nearly three decades of coaching one of the premiere athletic programs in any sport, mentoring hundreds of elite athletes, including Olympic champions Simone Biles, Jordan Wieber, Kyla Ross, Madison Kocian, Laurie Hernandez and Nastia Liukin, among others. Also known as the nation’s foremost gymnastics choreographer, Miss Val’s many credits include choreographing and directing a myriad of live variety shows, such as the NCAA Opening Ceremonies for Women’s Basketball, a flash mob of famed female athletes and coaches at the inaugural Aurora Games, a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar roast, CBS’s “Jump, Jive & Thrive” Breast Cancer Research Foundation benefit, and 26 years of cirque-type shows for SeaWorld’s Summer Nights and the San Diego Zoo. Current projects include additional live stage shows, TV specials, events and the development of a theatrical musical, plus the highly anticipated “Gold Over America Tour” featuring an all-star team of female gymnastics champions, headlined by Simone Biles and also featuring Katelyn Ohashi. She is a dynamic and charismatic speaker with an extensive schedule of “Corporate Coaching” events for national companies including JP Morgan Chase, General Electric and Jackson National Life Insurance, and has contributed to various panel discussions including Bustle’s “Rule Breakers” and the ESPNW Summit. In her TEDWomen 2019 talk, Miss Val inspires people to reevaluate their definition of success. She maintains that real success is developing champions in life, and that in order to motivate success, we need to inspire those whom we lead without compromising the human spirit. As a recent breast cancer survivor, Valorie’s positive outlook and hope filled message is impactful. She empowered her athletes to use their voices, to celebrate themselves, and to enjoy the elite sport that has damaged so many in the past. She also shared her motivating and inspirational messages with the world, with her book, “LIFE IS SHORT, DON’T WAIT TO DANCE: Advice and Inspiration from the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame Coach of 7 NCAA Championship Teams,” which was released in Fall 2018 by the Hachette Book Group. It expounds on her life philosophy: “Don’t wait to see what life is going to hand you, take control of your life and design ~ choreograph it exactly how you want it to turn out.” In her free time, Valorie is active with the UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation, LA 84 Olympic Foundation, WISE (Women In Sports & Events), BCRF (Breast Cancer Research Foundation), Unite For Her, and many other charitable organizations, close to her heart. She resides in Mountain Gate, CA with her husband, retired UCLA Football Coach, Bobby Field.

Jason Reynolds is the New York Times bestselling author of many books, including When I Was the Greatest, Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely), As Brave as You, For Every One, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Long Way Down, and Look Both Ways. He is a National Book Award finalist; the recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and multiple Coretta Scott King Honors; and the winner of a Kirkus Prize, two Walter Dean Myers Awards, and an NAACP Image Award, among other honors.

Laura Huang is the MBA Class of 1954 Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Laura’s research examines interpersonal relationships and implicit bias in entrepreneurship and in the workplace. She is the creator of #FindYourEdge, an initiative dedicated to addressing inequality and disadvantage through personal empowerment. Her award-winning research has been featured in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, and Nature, and she was named one of the 40 Best Business School Professors Under the Age of 40 by Poets & Quants. Previously, she held positions in investment banking, consulting, and management, for organizations such as Standard Chartered Bank, IBM Global Services, and Johnson & Johnson. Laura holds an MS and BSE in electrical engineering, both from Duke University, an MBA from INSEAD, and a PhD from the University of California, Irvine. Her first book is entitled Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage.