The Neuroscience of Fierce Compassion
Speakers
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Associate Professor of Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management
Adam Waytz is a psychologist and an associate professor of management and organizations in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He uses methods from social psychology and cognitive neuroscience to research topics such as altruism, empathy, dehumanization, anthropomorphism, whistle-blowing, trust, and moral responsibility. He has numerous research articles in leading journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Psychological Review and has written popular articles for outlets including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Scientific American, and Slate. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Columbia University, a doctorate in social psychology from the University of Chicago, and received a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Health to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He is the first person to receive twice the Theoretical Innovation Prize from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. In 2014, Poets and Quants named him one of the Best 40 Business School Professors Under the Age of 40 and in 2015 he won the early career award from the International Social Cognition Network as well as the SAGE Young Scholar Award.
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Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Jamil Zaki is an assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University. His research examines the neural bases of social cognition and behavior: and especially how people understand and respond to each other’s emotions. This work spans a number of domains, including empathy, social influence, and prosocial behavior (see ssnl.stanford.edu for details).
Dr. Zaki received his BA in cognitive neuroscience from Boston University and his PhD in psychology from Columbia University, and conducted postdoctoral research at the Harvard Center for Brain Science. He has received research and teaching awards from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, the Society for Neuroscience, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, Autism Speaks, Harvard University, and Stanford University. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Zaki is active in outreach and public communication of science, and founded the science communication platform The People’s Science (www.thepeoplesscience.org).
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Assistant Professor, UCSF; CEO & Co-founder, Institute for Applied Neuroscience
Melina is an Assistant Professor in the Dept of Neurology at UC San Francisco, leading the department’s educational neuroscience efforts as Director of Education for Neuroscape, a new center that aims to bridge neuroscience and technology. Melina has spent 15 yrs at the forefront of learning neuroscience, and now applies research to solving real-world problems in education and technology. Education: Melina leads a multi-university National Science Foundation-funded network studying how executive function contributes to academic achievement. She co-founded and is CEO of a nonprofit that arms educators and students with practical tools based on learning science, Institute for Applied Neuroscience (scienceforgood.org). Technology: Melina leads an NIH-funded research program that investigates whether technology use is associated with neurocognitive changes. She co-chaired a 2015 National Academy of Sciences conference on children and technology, and sits on the board of the Institute of Digital Media and Child Development. She also holds an affiliation with Stanford’s Psychology Department and is a MacArthur Scholar. Her work has been highlighted in media outlets such as the New York Times, PBS, and Frontline. Her science outreach work includes serving as Script Supervisor on the Emmy-nominated PBS TV series The Brain with David Eagleman, and as scientific advisor on an award-winning short film about the brain.
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Dr Taddy Blecher is CEO of the Community and Individual Development Association; the Maharishi Invincibility Institute and the Imvula Empowerment Trust, and National Chairperson of the SA Government team on Entrepreneurship, Education, & Employability. He is a pioneer of the free tertiary education movement in South Africa, helping create six free access institutions of higher learning.
Dr Blecher co-founded the Branson School of Entrepreneurship with Sir Richard Branson, and has raised over R1 billion in cash, property and equity to support free access to post-secondary school education, and to modernizing the South African school system. As a result, over 20,000 unemployed South Africans have been educated, found employment and moved from poverty to the middle-class. These formerly unemployed youth (70% women) now have combined salaries in excess of R1.425 Billion Rand per annum. and expected life-time earnings of R41.85 billion. Over 600,000 young South Africans in schools have been reached with one-week education and life-skills training courses.
Dr Blecher was chosen as one of 21 Icons in South Africa, a World Economic Forum "Global Leader of Tomorrow" award recipient, a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader of the World", a Skoll Social Entrepreneur winning a $1 million prize, and has been awarded with two honorary doctorates. In 2009 he was named by author Tom Peters as one of his top 5 most influential entrepreneurs in the world over the last 30 years. Over 65 published books have profiled Dr Blecher’s work.
A qualified actuary and management consultant, Dr Blecher is passionate about the approach of Consciousness-Based Education, a system of education developing the full potential of every student. This has led the Maharishi Invincibility Institute to winning the first prize in a global competition to find the most innovative education initiative in the world.
