Tae-Ho Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech, with affiliated appointments in the School of Neuroscience and Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health. His research focuses on affective and cognitive neural development across the lifespan, neurodegeneration, and family-based neural dynamics. PhD in Brain and Cognitive Science, University of Southern California M.A. in Clinical Psychology, Korea University B.A. in Psychology, Korea University Dr. Lee’s work explores brain connectome dynamics, dyadic neural concordance in families, and age-related attentional control. He employs neuroimaging techniques to study how familial and environmental factors shape emotional and cognitive outcomes in adolescents and older adults. Recent publications highlight trends in longitudinal studies , parent-child neural similarity , and functional connectivity in emotion regulation . Key areas include autism spectrum disorder, substance misuse risk, and the role of socioeconomic factors in brain development. Rising Star , Association for Psychological Science (2020) Dr. Lee is not currently accepting students and leads the Affective Neurodynamics and Development (AND) Lab at Virginia Tech.
Univ-Prof. Dr. med. Malek Bajbouj serves as Director of the Institute for Affective Neuroscience and Emotion Modulation at Charité – University Medicine Berlin's Campus Benjamin Franklin (CBF), operating within the Department of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (CC 15). His position integrates clinical leadership with translational neuroscience research focused on severe mental illnesses. Dr. Bajbouj's research program centers on affective neuroscience and emotion dysregulation mechanisms in psychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia spectrum conditions and depression. He pioneers multimodal intervention approaches combining neuromodulation (tDCS), oxytocin augmentation, mindfulness therapies, and digital health tools. His work emphasizes translational biomarker development using neuroimaging, machine learning, and physiological stress parameter analysis to personalize treatment for treatment-resistant populations. Analysis of his 2023-2025 publications reveals three dominant research trajectories: (1) novel treatment combinations for negative symptoms in schizophrenia (oxytocin + mindfulness, yoga therapy); (2) real-world implementation of neuromodulation (at-home tDCS protocols, technical efficacy monitoring); and (3) global mental health responses to crises (pandemic impacts on vulnerable groups, culturally adapted refugee interventions). His methodology consistently employs rigorous randomized controlled trials with embedded biomarker studies. As director of his eponymous institute, Dr. Bajbouj leads a multidisciplinary team conducting neuroimaging studies, clinical trials, and international collaborations focused on emotion modulation pathways. The institute coordinates research across CC 15's clinical infrastructure at CBF Building V, with particular emphasis on bridging laboratory neuroscience with clinical psychiatry through the DepressionDC and OXYMIND trial frameworks.
Rick Hoyle is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, where he serves as Associate Chair of the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. He is also a Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. His academic career spans decades, with significant contributions to understanding self-regulation and adolescent development. Dr. Hoyle earned his B.A. from Appalachian State University (1983), followed by an M.A. (1986) and Ph.D. (1988) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He progressed from Assistant to Associate to Full Professor at the University of Kentucky from 1989 to 2003 before joining Duke University. His research focuses on how adolescents and emerging adults manage goal pursuit through self-regulation, taking a broad view that accounts for personality, environment, cognition, emotion, and social influences. He employs longitudinal methods with repeated assessments, sometimes spanning years with data collection multiple times per year, or intensive studies with assessments several times daily. His lab develops innovative measurement tools including self-report measures of self-control and grit, as well as unobtrusive approaches using mobile phones and wearable devices to track goal pursuit in natural settings. His recent publications reveal a strong focus on self-regulation in digital contexts, adolescent substance use, socioeconomic influences on development, and innovative measurement approaches. His work increasingly integrates technology (social media analysis, wearable devices) with traditional psychological research methods to understand real-world behavior. Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (2013) Dr. Hoyle has secured numerous research grants totaling millions of dollars, including the current Real-Time and Randomized Tests of Social Media and Mental Health Links in Early Adolescence (2024-2029), NCCU Duke - Substance Use Research & Education (2024-2029), and Mid-Life Health Inequalities in the Rural South: Risk and Resilience (2023-2028). His grant portfolio demonstrates sustained funding for research on adolescent development, substance use, self-regulation, and health disparities. He teaches advanced courses including Applied Structural Equation Modeling and Psychology and Neuroscience Grant Writing, mentoring the next generation of researchers in quantitative methods and research design. His work through the Center for the Study of Adolescent Risk and Resilience (2008-2025) has established a significant research infrastructure for longitudinal studies of adolescent development. Current projects examine social media effects on mental health, substance use patterns, and the impact of environmental factors on adolescent well-being using innovative digital tracking methods.
Brian A. Primack is a Professor of Public Health with tenure at Oregon State University's College of Public Health and Human Sciences, serving as its dean since 2022. Previously, he was Dean of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas and Dean of the Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on social media's impact on mental health, including depression, anxiety, and loneliness. He has authored over 300 publications, including his book You Are What You Click , and secured over $10 million in federal research funding. Dr. Primack's research highlights both risks and opportunities of digital media. He emphasizes optimizing social media use through strategies like curating connections and mitigating negativity. His work intersects education, medicine, and public health, addressing disparities in health outcomes, such as those exacerbated during the pandemic. Notable awards include membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation (2019) and the Next Big Idea Book Award shortlist (2021). His leadership philosophy prioritizes unlocking potential, fostering community trust, and advancing equitable health solutions. He oversees a college with nearly 2,400 students and $18 million in annual research funding, emphasizing community engagement and innovative scholarship.
Valerie Thomas is the Anderson Interface Chair of Natural Systems at Georgia Tech, holding joint appointments in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on energy systems, sustainability, industrial ecology, and science and technology policy. She earned a B.A. in Physics from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Cornell University, followed by postdoctoral research at Carnegie Mellon and Princeton Universities. Her work addresses low-carbon transportation, environmental impacts of food systems, and energy development in Africa. Key research areas include life cycle assessment, climate policy, and technology assessment. Thomas has contributed to over 80 technical publications and serves on advisory boards for the U.S. EPA and USDA/DOE. Education: Ph.D. in Physics, Cornell University; B.A. in Physics, Swarthmore College Awards: AAAS and APS Fellowships, Georgia Tech’s 1934 Outstanding Interdisciplinary Award Her teaching spans energy policy, lifecycle analysis, and engineering economics. She leads interdisciplinary teams at the Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory and the Technology Policy and Assessment Center, advancing sustainable systems engineering and policy solutions.
Tim Woodman is a Professor in Sport & Exercise at the School of Psychology and Sport Science , Bangor University. He is a leading expert in Performance Psychology , focusing on personality, stress, anxiety, and risk-taking in elite sports. His groundbreaking theory positions risk as central to human development and performance. Research Interests : Narcissism, anxiety-performance relationships, risk-taking behavior, athlete mental health, agentic emotion regulation. Scientific Contributions : Over 150 peer-reviewed publications, including 2025 studies on cricket mental health, coach support dynamics, and pressure training methodologies in elite sports. Projects : Leads the North West Air Ambulance performance psychology initiative and collaborates with Manchester City Football Club on personality-climate change research. Teaching & Supervision : Accepts PhD students interested in risk-taking, personality, and performance psychology topics.
Jennifer D. Oliva is a Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law where she holds the Val Nolan Faculty Fellow position. She maintains significant interdisciplinary affiliations as a Research Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center's O'Neill Institute for National & Global Health Law and as a Senior Scholar with the UCSF/UC Law Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy. Her academic work bridges legal scholarship with practical health policy development, focusing on the intersection of constitutional protections, public health needs, and modern surveillance technologies. Professor Oliva's research interests center on health law, privacy law, and drug policy with particular expertise in prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), health information privacy, and the legal dimensions of the opioid crisis. Her scholarship critically examines how law enforcement surveillance of prescription data impacts patient privacy rights, particularly for vulnerable populations including those with substance use disorders. She has developed significant expertise in how constitutional privacy protections apply to health data in the digital age, especially following the Supreme Court's decision in Carpenter v. United States. Her recent publications reveal a growing focus on algorithmic regulation in healthcare, examining how risk scoring systems and coverage algorithms can perpetuate health disparities. She has published extensively on the intersection of reproductive rights and health data privacy in the post-Dobbs landscape, analyzing how prescription monitoring systems could be weaponized against individuals seeking reproductive healthcare. Her work consistently connects doctrinal legal analysis with public health realities, advocating for evidence-based policy approaches that prioritize patient privacy and health equity over punitive enforcement. Dosing Discrimination: Regulating PDMP Risk Scores (2022) The "New" Drug War (2024) Prescription Drug Policing: The Right to Health Information Privacy Pre- and Post-Carpenter (2020) Opioid Multidistrict Litigation Secrecy (2019) Surveillance, Privacy, and App Tracking (2020) Professor Oliva actively engages with policymakers and has contributed to amicus briefs in significant cases including Ruan v. United States. Her scholarship has been cited in legal proceedings and she regularly presents at major academic conferences including the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting. She has collaborated with scholars across disciplines including public health researchers, medical ethicists, and data scientists to address complex challenges at the intersection of law, technology, and healthcare.
Dorothy L. Espelage is the William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, affiliated with the School of Education's Applied Developmental Science and Special Education (ADSSE) department. She holds joint appointments in Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) and School Psychology, and leads the Diverse and Resilient Educators Advised through Mentorship (DREAM) initiative. Her research focuses on translating empirical findings into prevention programs targeting bullying, teen dating violence, and school safety. Dr. Espelage advises U.S. Congress on anti-bullying legislation and has secured over $15 million in external funding. Education: Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology (1997), Indiana University M.S. in Clinical Psychology (1993), Radford University B.S. in Psychology (1991), Virginia Commonwealth University Research Interests: Prevention science, social-emotional learning interventions, bullying and cyberbullying prevention, school-based suicide prevention, and addressing violence against educators. Her work emphasizes policy development and community engagement, with a focus on marginalized youth such as LGBTQ+ adolescents and students with disabilities. Key Contributions: Developed evidence-based programs like Sources of Strength and DIAL (Disability Anti-Bullying Training). Authored influential books including Bullying in North American Schools and Handbook of Bullying in Schools . Her recent studies explore racial disparities in bullying-suicidality links and violence against school staff. Awards & Recognition: Lifetime Achievement Award (APA Division 17, 2023) 2023 BRNET-WABF Career Award Invited speaker at White House Bullying Summit (2011) Advising & Grants: Mentor for early-career researchers through the DREAM program. Current grants focus on school climate improvement, anti-bullying teacher training, and mental health equity initiatives. Collaborates with CDC, NIH, and NIJ on dissemination efforts. Labs & Teams: Leads transdisciplinary teams at UNC and previously at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Gutgsell Professorship) and University of Florida. Engaged in global anti-bullying advocacy through organizations like the World Anti-Bullying Forum.
John Monterosso is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California, specializing in addiction, motivation, and decision-making research. His work explores the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying impulse control and reward processing, with particular focus on substance use disorders and behavioral interventions. Monterosso's research integrates behavioral experiments with neuroimaging to examine decision-making processes in addiction contexts. His lab investigates how immediate rewards influence behavior and how cognitive control mechanisms can be harnessed for addiction treatment. Recent work examines the impact of e-cigarette flavors on appeal and sensory perception, obesity medication perceptions, and neural correlates of value representation. With collaborations spanning public health and neuroscience, his publications demonstrate consistent focus on translating basic psychological research into clinical applications. The methodological progression shows increasing sophistication in neuroimaging techniques and large-scale behavioral studies examining substance use patterns across diverse populations.
Professor Dhiraj Murthy holds appointments in the Moody College of Communication , Sociology , and School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. He earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on social media, digital methods, health communication, and disaster response. He directs the Computational Media Lab , a leading research group with over 20 students, and co-edits the journal Big Data & Society . Notably, he authored the seminal book Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age (2013/2018), which won the ALA CHOICE Prize. Dr. Murthy's work has been funded by NIH, NSF, and other major grants, including studies on e-cigarette marketing, disaster informatics, and AI-driven disinformation detection. He also serves on advisory boards for MediaWell and chairs international social media conferences. Education : Ph.D. in Sociology, University of Cambridge. Grants : Over $5M from NIH, NSF, and UT Austin’s Good Systems initiative for projects like 'AI Technologies to Curb Disinformation' and 'E-cigarette Use Among Mexican American Students.' Labs/Teams : Computational Media Lab (UT Austin), focusing on AI, social media analytics, and health research. Awards : Stanford University’s 2023 Top 2% Global Scientists in Communication & Media Studies and Sociology, ALA CHOICE Prize (2018), and multiple NIH/NSF grants. His work bridges sociology, media studies, and computational methods to address societal challenges like health disparities and misinformation.
Mark W. Newman is an Associate Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan, with a joint appointment in the EECS Department. His research focuses on human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing, and health informatics, emphasizing the design of technologies that integrate seamlessly into everyday life. He teaches courses on user experience research, programming, and application development, contributing to curriculum design efforts such as the User Experience Design track and programming curricula for undergraduate and graduate programs. His work spans smart home technologies, mobile health interventions, and collaborative health management systems. Notably, he collaborates across disciplines to address challenges in healthcare technology, including patient-generated data integration and sustainable energy solutions. Newman actively mentors students and leads design projects that prioritize user-centered approaches, such as the UX Research & Design Specialization on Coursera. His recent scholarship explores adaptive mHealth interventions, context-aware systems, and participatory design methods to enhance health equity.
Justin Pidot is a Professor of Law and holds the Ashby Lohse Chair in Water & Natural Resources at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law. He co-directs the Environmental Law, Science and Policy Program. His expertise spans environmental law, natural resources law, administrative law, and water policy. Prior to academia, he served in key government roles, including General Counsel at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (2021–2024) and Deputy Solicitor for Land Resources at the U.S. Department of the Interior (2016–2017). Education includes a J.D. with Distinction from Stanford Law School (2006) and a B.A. with High Honors from Wesleyan University (1999). His scholarship focuses on environmental governance, regulatory frameworks, and legal remedies. He co-authored Practicing Environmental Law , a pioneering casebook using a problems-based approach. Research interests emphasize environmental policy, land management, and the intersection of law and science. His work has appeared in leading journals like the Stanford Law Review and Harvard Environmental Law Journal. Professional service includes teaching at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law (2011–2019), a clerkship with Judge Judith W. Rogers of the D.C. Circuit Court, and a fellowship at the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute. His contributions bridge academic research and practical governance, informed by extensive federal legal experience. Current projects likely involve climate policy, water resource management, and administrative law reform.
Markus Heilig is a Professor of Psychiatry and Head of the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (BKV) at Linköping University. He serves as Director of the Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience (CSAN), integrating basic and clinical neuroscience to address addictive and affective disorders. His work bridges neuropharmacology, molecular psychiatry, and clinical trials. Linköping University (Current) Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience (CSAN) (Director) Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine (Collaborator) His research focuses on alcohol dependence mechanisms, stress-neurotransmitter interactions (e.g., CRF, substance P, endocannabinoids), and personalized medicine approaches. Using animal models and human neuroimaging (fMRI), his lab explores epigenetic changes in frontal lobe and amygdala neurons that drive compulsive alcohol use. Recent publications highlight his work on endocannabinoid modulation for PTSD treatment, neural correlates of reward choices, and pharmacological interventions targeting GABA and opioid receptors. His studies often combine brain imaging, behavioral analysis, and pharmacology. Scientific awards include the 2019 Wallenberg Clinical Scholar grant and 2017 CAN/Nordic Drugs prizes. Heilig's research is supported by Vetenskapsrådet (SEK 57 million center funding) and international donations like the Andrew J. Bock Memorial Fund.
Professor Ian Cousins is a leading researcher in the Department of Environmental Science at Stockholm University, specializing in the study of persistent organic pollutants, particularly per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). With over 200 peer-reviewed publications and recognition as a Highly Cited Researcher in 2018 and 2020, his work has significantly influenced environmental policy and scientific understanding of chemical pollution. BSc (Hons) in Chemistry, University of York (1989) Master's in Environmental Management, University of Surrey (1991) PhD in Environmental Science, Lancaster University (1998) Prof. Cousins' research focuses on the sources, transport, fate, and exposure pathways of contaminants in the environment, with particular emphasis on PFAS. His work combines experimental and modeling approaches to investigate how these persistent chemicals move through ecosystems, with recent studies examining sea spray aerosol transport of PFAS and their global distribution. His research has contributed to understanding PFAS as a planetary boundary issue, demonstrating that environmental contamination by these substances has exceeded safe operating limits. Prof. Cousins' extensive publication record shows a clear trend toward addressing the complex challenges of PFAS pollution, including their environmental behavior, risk assessment methodologies, regulatory frameworks, and the application of the essential-use concept for phasing out non-essential PFAS applications. His work spans fundamental environmental chemistry to policy-relevant research that has directly influenced European environmental decision-making. Highly Cited Researcher (2018, 2020) Listed among 30 EU politicians and professionals with greatest impact on European environmental policy (2023) Associate Editor of Environmental Science and Technology (2020-present) Associate Editor of Environmental Au (2021-present) Prof. Cousins actively supervises master's students focusing on organic pollutants and has coordinated major research projects including PERFORCE3, a Europe-wide doctoral training program on PFAS, and ZeroPM, targeting PFAS and persistent, mobile substances. His research has been supported by multiple European Union Horizon 2020 grants, reflecting the significance and impact of his work on global environmental challenges. He leads a research group that works closely with analytical chemists to better understand the behavior of PFAS and other contaminants, contributing to the development of evidence-based approaches for managing chemical pollution and protecting environmental and human health.
Professor Marinella Marmo is a leading academic in criminology, human rights, and gendered migration studies at Flinders University's College of Business, Government and Law . She serves as a Professor and contributes to institutions like the Centre for Social Impact and the Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Disruptive Technologies . Education: PhD in Applied Social Science (University of Lancaster, UK), LLB (Honours) (Università di Salerno, Italy). Her research spans international criminal justice , transnational crime , modern slavery , and gendered border control , with work influencing national policies and documentaries. She has secured funding from the Australian Research Council and EU-Australian Government initiatives . Recent publications focus on state-corporate harm and migrant deportation regimes , reflecting her commitment to human rights centred criminology . Awards include the 2023 BGL Team Teaching Award and the 2018 ANZ Society of Criminology Excellence in Teaching Award . She supervises projects on modern slavery , gig economy exploitation , and state crime , aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goals like SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 8 (Decent Work).
