Work with thought leaders and academic experts in well-being

Christos A. Makridis holds academic appointments at Columbia Business School, Stanford University, Baylor University, University of Nicosia, and Arizona State University. He is also an adjunct scholar at the Manhattan Institute, senior adviser at Gallup, and senior adviser at the National AI Institute in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Christos is the CEO/co-founder of [Dainamic](https://www.dainamic.ai/), a technology startup working to democratize the use and application of data science and AI techniques for small and mid sized organizations, and CTO/co-founder of [Living Opera](https://www.livingopera.org/), a web3 startup working to bridge classical music and blockchain technologies. Christos previously served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers managing the cybersecurity, technology, and space activities, as a Non-resident Fellow at the Cyber Security Project in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, as a Digital Fellow at the Initiative at the Digital Economy in the MIT Sloan School of Management, a a Non-resident Research Scientist at Datacamp, and as a Visiting Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Christos’ primary academic research focuses on labor economics, the digital economy, and personal finance and well-being. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed research papers in academic journals and over 170 news articles in the press. Christos earned a Bachelor’s in Economics and Minor in Mathematics at Arizona State University, as well a dual Masters and PhDs in Economics and Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University.

I am broadly interested in the factors that promote or diminish happiness and well-being. My research program explores how constant connectivity to the Internet impacts people’s relationships and well-being and how we can harness technology to improve well-being and promote positive behavioral change. I am a Vanier Scholar and a Rising Star of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). I have written for *The* *New York Times*, *The Conversation*, and *Psychology Today*, and my work has been covered by other prestigious publications such as *The* *Economist, BBC, NPR, Forbes, Fast Company, Time Magazine, The Wall Stree Journal, National Geographic,* and *The Washington Post*. I have consulted for companies such as Ipsos, Canvas8, and Luce Research. See more at www.kushlev.com

Dr. Arpin's research focuses on the application of quantitative methods to the study of social psychological processes, including social interactions, social emotions, and health behavioral outcomes. She has conducted extensive research and published in the areas of loneliness and social determinants of health, using experimental and survey methodology. Dr. Arpin also has experience as a methodology and data analytic consultant on several large grant-funded projects, including DOD-funded intervention studies targeting well-being and social resilience among service-members.

Dr. Ryan Howell is an Associate Professor at San Francisco State University. His research interests include the psychology of goals and how people pursue and achieve them. Dr. Howell received his PhD in Social/Personality Psychology from the University of California, Riverside in 2005.

Ariel D. Kalil is the Daniel Levin Professor of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. She is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research associate at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan. She is also a faculty member in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and in the College at the University of Chicago. Kalil's research lies at the intersection of child development and public policy. She is particularly interested in the effect of early childhood interventions on health and economic outcomes in adulthood. Her work has been published in leading social science journals, including the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy. Kalil earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor in 1996, her MA in Social Psychology from the University of Colorado System in 1993, and her BA in Psychology and French Literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1991.

civil engineering, steel structures, composite structures, structural engineering, design optimisation, modular buildings, nonlinear analysis

Christian Waugh, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University, NC, is an expert in the study of stress resilience, emotions, and effective coping habits. His research features resilience as the result of stress, trauma, and the ability to experience positive emotions in times of stress. Dr. Waugh has been twice honored for teaching excellence at Wake Forest, is a professional speaker, and has published several dozen scientific articles.

Professor Lyubomirsky’s research interests include well-being, happiness, self-regulation, and talents. She is widely published, with well over 100 articles and chapters and four books, The How of Happiness (Penguin, 2007), The Myths of Happiness (Penguin, 2013), The How of Happiness Workbook (Penguin, 2008), and Designing Your Life (Avery, 2016). Professor Lyubomirsky has received numerous awards for her work, including the American Psychological Association’s Positive Psychology Prize (2015), the American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (2009), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2008-2009). She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association.

Norman Farb, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, where he directs the Regulatory and Affective Dynamics laboratory (www.radlab.zone). He studies the psychology of well-being, focusing on mental habits, such as how we think about ourselves and interpret our emotions. He is particularly interested in why people differ in their resilience to stress, depression, and anxiety. Prof. Farb's work currently explores online training to support wellbeing, as well as neuroimaging to understand how emotional reactions predict mental health over the lifespan.

Jennifer Aaker is a marketing professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the author of several books on the topic, including The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change. She has also conducted research on the psychology of happiness and self-regulation.

Dr. Kim's program of research aims to identify, understand, and intervene upon the dimensions of psychological well-being (sense of purpose in life, optimism) that reduce the risk of age-related conditions. <br> Around this topic, he has given invited lectures at Universities (Harvard, U. of Penn, MIT, Columbia U.), corporations (UnitedHealth Care, IDEO, AARP, Samsung), and he’s also been invited to speak at and join the working groups of national- and international-think-tanks (United Nations, OECD, Aspen Ideas Festival, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, The Task Force for Global Health, World Government Summit, National Academy of Sciences). He’s also been recognized as one of Forbe’s 30 Under 30 in Healthcare, recipient of the American Journal of Epidemiology's Paper of the Year Award, the American Psychological Association Division 20 (Aging) Early Career Achievement Award, and an Association for Psychological Science (APS) Rising Star. His insights have been featured in the: NY Times, Atlantic, BBC News, NPR, Washington Post. His research has been cited by policy statements/guidelines formulated by the: United Nations, National Academy of Sciences, American Heart Association, the U.S. Surgeon General. Population aging is one of the most important social trends of the 21st century. In both Canada and the U.S., the # of adults aged ≥65 is projected to increase by 45%-55% in the next 15 years. As societies grapple with the rising tide of chronic conditions, healthcare costs, and long-term care costs, it is imperative to develop a science that informs a more comprehensive approach to healthy aging. Dr. Kim’s overarching goal is to substantially help improve the psychological well-being and physical health of our rapidly growing population. In pursuit of this goal, his program of research revolves around 4 interwoven questions. He studies: 1) Several dimensions of psychological well-being (sense of purpose in life, optimism) and how they relate to health outcomes. 2) The behavioral, biological, and neural mechanisms underlying the association between psychological well-being and health. 3) How an individual’s psychological well-being interacts with the surrounding environment to influence behavioral and physical health outcomes; for example, at the meso-level (dyadic dynamics in couples, neighborhood contexts, altruism/volunteering) and the macro-level (social cohesion, social and racial disparities). 4) And he partners with non-profit/healthcare companies to conduct translational research that test scalable interventions.