About GGSCThe Greater Good Science Center studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society.Since 2001, we have been at the fore of a new scientific movement to explore the roots of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior—the science of a meaningful life. And we have been without peer in our efforts to translate and disseminate this science to the public, including through our award-winning online magazine, Greater Good.Greater Good Science CenterGGSC_26272da6-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea00Based at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the world’s leading institutions of research and higher education, the GGSC is unique in its commitment to both science and practice: Not only do we sponsor groundbreaking scientific research into social and emotional well-being, we help people apply this research to their personal and professional lives.GGSC StaffMaryam AbdullahPARENTING PROGRAM DIRECTOR -- Maryam Abdullah, Ph.D., is the Parenting Program Director of the Greater Good Science Center. She is a developmental psychologist with expertise in parent-child relationships and children’s development of prosocial behaviors. At GGSC, Maryam’s role is to support organizations providing parenting education to raise caring children and to share the latest parenting science findings on Greater Good. Prior to joining GGSC, she was an Assistant Project Scientist at the University of California, Irvine Child Development School in the Department of Pediatrics, a school-based behavioral health program where she provided parenting and child interventions, oversaw its clinical outcomes and program evaluation, and mentored undergraduate students with research projects. Her research experiences include exploration of parent-child relationships, early development of children with autism spectrum disorder, and traditional behavioral and canine-assisted interventions for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. She was the recipient of the University of California, Irvine Health System ARIISE Award for Respect. Maryam was born and raised in the Bay Area.Jesse AntinDEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR -- Jesse leads the Greater Good Science Center’s development and membership efforts. He brings a background in arts and conservation fundraising and is grateful now to understand the psychology behind why giving feels so good! Prior to joining the GGSC, Jesse was a fundraiser for the environmental law non-profit Earthjustice. This followed a career in classical music during which he won a Grammy as a countertenor with the vocal ensemble Chanticleer. Jesse graduated from Brown University and now lives in Oakland with his wife and two young sons, and enjoys tennis, backpacking, and singing with his new group Clerestory.Juliana BreinesSENIOR FELLOW -- Juliana Breines, Ph.D., is a contributing writer for the GGSC’s websites, Greater Good and Greater Good in Action, and a course assistant and data analyst for the GGSC’s online course, The Science of Happiness. A postdoctoral fellow at Brandeis University, Juliana’s research examines the influence of self-compassion on psychological and physical health. She is the author of the Psychology Today blog “In Love and War” and co-author of the blog “Psych Your Mind.” She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently lives with her husband in Boston.Allison Briscoe-SmithSENIOR FELLOW -- Allison Briscoe-Smith, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Wright Institute.Christine CarterSENIOR FELLOW -- Christine Carter, Ph.D., is a sociologist and the author of the popular books The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work and Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents. A sought-after keynote speaker, Christine talks to to executives, general audiences, and parents about how to live life from our “sweet spot”—that place of both power and ease. She has been quoted or featured in many major media outlets, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Dr. Oz Show, the TODAY show, the Rachael Ray Show, and PBS, as well as NPR and BBC Radio.Christine received her B.A. from Dartmouth College, where she was a Senior Fellow, and her Ph.D. in sociology from UC Berkeley. She has also worked as an innovation consultant for Fortune 500 companies. Predictably, Christine is happiest when she is with her friends and her family, especially her four kids, husband, and dog, Buster.Amy L. EvaASSOCIATE EDUCATION DIRECTOR -- Amy L. Eva, Ph.D., is the associate education director at the Greater Good Science Center. She writes for the center’s online magazine, facilitates the Summer Institute for Educators, and consults on the development of GGSC education resources. With over 23 years in classrooms, she is a teacher at heart. She is fascinated by neuroscience, the psychology of learning, and adolescent development and has spent the last 12 years as a teacher educator.As a researcher, she has published in the areas of teacher education, metacognition, adolescent mental health, social-emotional learning, and mindfulness-based interventions with marginalized youth. Her most recent publication “The Mindful Teacher: Translating Research into Daily Well-being” (The Clearing House), describes mindfulness, provides research-based evidence of its usefulness, and highlights resources that educators can use to manage stress and improve their well-being.Mariah FlynnEDUCATION PROGRAM COORDINATOR -- Mariah provides administrative, design, and facilitation support for the GGSC Summer Institute for Educators. (Participants and colleagues alike know her as “the woman who sends all the detailed emails.”) She also writes articles for the education section of the GGSC magazine and contributes to the creation and implementation of numerous education projects, including the upcoming online Toolkit for Educators and the GGSC Gratitude in Education grant program.Before joining the GGSC, Mariah worked with the Schools of Hope (SOH) Project in Madison, Wisconsin. Serving first as an AmeriCorps member and later as a SOH staff member, she coordinated volunteers and early literacy resources at low-income Madison preschools and provided support to volunteer tutors and AmeriCorps members as they navigated the world of working with elementary-aged students. Prior to her time at SOH, Mariah earned her B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.Mariah and her wife, Anna, made the big leap to the left coast in late 2014, just as another winter was arriving in Wisconsin. They are grateful to have found sunny weather and a welcoming community in the East Bay!Shuka KalantariSENIOR PODCAST PRODUCER -- Shuka Kalantari produces the GGSC’s Science of Happiness podcast, in partnership with PRX. Her background is in public radio, reporting on science, health, and education with a focus on underrepresented communities internationally.Shuka was born in Northern Iran and raised in North California. She’s a graduate of UC Santa Cruz and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. You can follow her on Twitter, and pitch guest ideas, at @skalantari.Dacher KeltnerFACULTY DIRECTOR -- Dacher Keltner, Ph.D, is a co-founder of the Greater Good Science Center and its faculty director. After receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University, Dacher (rhymes with “cracker”) has devoted his career to studying the nature of human goodness, conducting ground-breaking research on compassion, awe, laughter, and love. He is also a leading expert on social intelligence, the psychology of power, and the emotional bases of morality. He has written more than 100 scientific papers and two best-selling textbooks, Social Psychology and Understanding Emotions. More recently, he is the author of The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence and Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life, and a co-editor of the Greater Good anthology, The Compassionate Instinct.Dacher is an outstanding speaker who has received several national research and teaching awards. Wired has rated the podcasts of his “Human Emotion” course as one of the five best academic podcasts in the country. He has twice presented his research to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as part of a continuing dialogue between the Dalai Lama and scientists, and his work is featured regularly in major media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, and NPR. In 2008, the Utne Reader named him as one of 50 visionaries who are changing our world.Jason MarshEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND EDITOR IN CHIEF -- Jason Marsh is the GGSC’s executive director and the founding editor in chief of its award-winning online magazine, Greater Good. He oversees the production of all editorial content, curates the “Science of a Meaningful Life” event series, and coordinates the public education efforts at the GGSC, where he has worked for nearly two decades. In that time, Jason’s writing has explored everything from the psychology of the bystander to the reasons why he should finally start meditating.Jason is also a co-editor of two anthologies of Greater Good articles: The Compassionate Instinct and Are We Born Racist?. Before coming to the GGSC, Jason was the managing editor of the political journal The Responsive Community. He has also worked as a reporter and producer at KQED Public Radio in San Francisco, as a documentary producer, and as a kindergarten teacher. His first documentary, Unschooled, a profile of three families practicing the controversial homeschooling method known as “unschooling,” debuted at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. A graduate of Brown University and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Jason lives in Berkeley with his wife and daughter.Katie MazzariOPERATIONS AND EVENTS COORDINATOR -- Katie Mazzari is the Operations and Events Coordinator at the Greater Good Science Center, managing logistics for workshops, conferences, and institutes, and supporting GGSC financial operations. Katie brings over 15 years of nonprofit program/event management and finance experience, beginning her career in Washington, D.C., with the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institution. After returning to her native New York, Katie spent ten years developing and managing community-building arts and cultural education programs in collaboration with NYC public schools, city agencies, and local nonprofit organizations. In 2018, Katie, her husband, and their cat made the move to the West Coast and now happily live in Berkeley.Rodolfo Mendoza-DentonSENIOR FACULTY ADVISOR -- Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, focuses his research on the interface of culture, social cognition, and intergroup processes. He is interested in understanding how marginalization of one’s social group affects basic processes related to social identity and intergroup relationships. Rudy writes for Greater Good about cross-group relationships and the psychology of prejudice, and he is a co-editor of the Greater Good anthology, Are We Born Racist?. He served as interim director of the GGSC from 2013-2014.Kira M. NewmanEDITOR & WEB PRODUCER -- Kira M. Newman writes, edits, and produces content for all of the Greater Good Science Center’s websites, from the magazine to Greater Good in Action to the Science of Happiness MOOC, for which she’s served as course assistant for three semesters. Offline, she is the creator of CaféHappy, a Toronto-based meetup that gathers monthly to discuss how to be happier. Kira comes to GGSC from the world of tech journalism, where she was published in outlets including Social Media Monthly and Tech.co. She spent four years traveling around the world and loves speaking French, swing dancing, and exploring local cafes. Follow her on Twitter!Hong NguyenDIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS -- Hong Nguyen is the director of operations for the Greater Good Science Center. She manages all the center’s day-to-day functions, from HR and payroll to financial, budget, event coordination, and staffing of students and volunteers. Her detailed organization keeps the center functioning at its peak.Before joining the Greater Good Science Center, Hong worked at various other departments at UC Berkeley beginning in 2000, accumulating a vast amount of experience and knowledge of the UC system. Besides her expertise in finances and management, she also has creative talent for design and always rises to the occasion in tackling unforeseen hurdles.Hong grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved to California in 1989. She has three children and is loving the California life. She also likes travel and nature.Jane ParkEXECUTIVE PRODUCER -- Jane Park is the Executive Producer at the Greater Good Science Center. She produces video for the center’s online magazine and the center’s acclaimed podcast, The Science of Happiness, in partnership with PRX.Emiliana Simon-ThomasSCIENCE DIRECTOR -- Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, Ph.D., is the science director of the Greater Good Science Center, where she oversees its fellowship program, Expanding Gratitude project, and is a co-instructor of the GGSC’s “Science of Happiness” online course.Emiliana earned her doctorate in Cognition Brain and Behavior at UC Berkeley. Her dissertation used behavioral and neuroscience methods to examine how negative states like fear and aversion influence thinking and decision-making. During her postdoc, Emiliana transitioned to studying pro-social states like love of humanity, compassion, and awe. From there, she served as Associate Director/Senior Scientist at CCARE (the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education) at Stanford University, focusing on how compassion benefits health, well-being, and psychosocial functioning.Today, Emiliana’s work spotlights the science that connects health and happiness to social affiliation, caregiving, and collaborative relationships, as she continues to examine the potential for—as well as the benefits of—living a more meaningful life.Jeremy Adam SmithEDITOR -- Jeremy Adam Smith edits the GGSC’s online magazine, Greater Good, and helps launch new products like Thnx4.org and Greater Good in Action. He is the author or co-editor of four books: The Daddy Shift, Rad Dad: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Fatherhood, Are We Born Racist?, and The Compassionate Instinct.Jeremy’s coverage of racial and economic segregation in San Francisco schools has won numerous honors, including the Sigma Delta Chi award for investigative reporting, the PASS Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, and numerous excellence in journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is also a three-time winner of the John Swett Award from the California Teachers Association. His articles and essays have appeared in Scientific American, The San Francisco Chronicle, Utne Reader, The Nation, Mindful, Shambhala Sun, Wired, and many other periodicals, websites, and books. Jeremy has also been interviewed by The Today Show, the New York Times, USA Today, Salon.com, Working Mother, Nightline, ABC News, NBC News, the Globe and Mail, and numerous NPR shows about parenting and education. Before joining the GGSC, Jeremy was a 2010-11 John S. Knight Journalism fellow at Stanford University. You can follow him on Twitter!Jill SuttieBOOK REVIEW EDITOR -- Jill Suttie, Psy.D., is Greater Good’s former book review editor and now serves as a staff writer and contributing editor for the magazine. She received her doctorate of psychology from the University of San Francisco in 1998 and was a psychologist in private practice before coming to Greater Good. Her passion for science, positive psychology, and social psychology fueled her interest in writing for the magazine, and she published her first article there in 2006—two years after Greater Good’s inception. Since then, she’s written hundreds of articles and book reviews covering a multitude of topics, including compassion, mindfulness, resilience, awe, altruism, happiness, cooperation, and purpose. She also writes about the impacts of racial bias, technology, nature, music, and social policy on individual mental health, relationships, and society. Outside of working for Greater Good, she does freelance writing for other publications, has been a featured guest on podcasts, and is a musician with two CDs of original songs, both available on her personal website: jillsuttie.com. Jill has two grown children and lives with her husband and her dog in Berkeley, California, where she hikes regularly in nearby Tilden Park to get her recommended daily dose of nature.Vicki ZakrzewskiEDUCATION DIRECTOR -- Vicki Zakrzewski, Ph.D., is the education director of the Greater Good Science Center. Her articles (GGSC Magazine, Huffington Post, Edutopia, and ASCD’s Educational Leadership), talks, workshops, and GGSC Summer Institute for Educators around the world provide science-based ideas for promoting the social and emotional well-being of students, teachers, and administrators, as well as methods for creating positive school cultures. Examples of her recent consulting work for incorporating the life-enhancing science of compassion, empathy, gratitude, awe, and other social-emotional skills include: the Mind and Life Institute (of which she is a fellow), the Jim Henson Company on a new television show for preschoolers, the International School of Brussels on the Common Ground Collaborative character curriculum, the International School of Bangkok and Palo Alto Unified School District on integrating social-emotional learning into their work, and Pixar/Disney on The Emotions Survival Guide—a follow-up book for children based on the movie Inside Out.A former teacher and school administrator, Vicki earned her Ph.D. in Education and Positive Psychology from Claremont Graduate University. In her doctoral research, Vicki spent two months in India at a school awarded the Peace Education Prize by UNESCO and the Hope of Humanity Award by the Dalai Lama, researching their methods for developing teachers’ ability to create caring relationships with students. She’s previously worked with Kaiser Permanente’s award-winning Educational Theatre Programs, the Ball Foundation’s story project for personal transformation which helped bring systemic change to school districts, as a children’s playwright for a worldwide humanitarian non-profit, and as a curriculum developer.GGSC FellowsThe Greater Good Science Center offers annual fellowships to UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students whose research relates to the Center’s mission. Our fellowship program seeks scholars from across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, with a particular focus on the social-behavioral sciences.Current Graduate Fellows:Allison DiamondAllison Diamond Altman is a fifth-year doctoral student in UC Berkeley’s Psychology Department. She received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Wesleyan University in 2011. Her research examines individualized approaches to the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. She plans to continue using such personalized methodology as a GGSC graduate research fellow, where she will investigate how limiting social media use can relate to improvements in mental health and well-being. She hopes that this line of work will reveal certain mechanisms underlying this interaction, which will be essential for proposing interventions in a clinical framework and for informing what responsible phone usage is for both adolescents and adults.Stephanie HaftStephanie Haft is a second-year doctoral student in Clinical Science at UC Berkeley. She received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Claremont McKenna College. Stephanie is broadly interested in how contextual factors such as culture and socioeconomic status interact with children’s stress biology to influence developmental outcomes. As a GGSC research fellow, Stephanie will examine cultural differences in the degree of coherence between facial expressions and autonomic nervous system reactivity in children. Further, she will explore how this degree of coherence is associated with school readiness outcomes, including social and emotional intelligence and prosocial states and behaviors.Colin HoyColin Hoy is a Ph.D. candidate in the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley. He graduated from Hendrix College with a B.A. in Neuroscience, and spent two years conducting neuroimaging research at the National Institute of Mental Health. As a GGSC fellow, Colin will use direct brain recordings in neurosurgical patients to study the neural mechanisms responsible for the rich space of human emotions identified in previous GGSC research (Cowen & Keltner, 2017). By characterizing when and where in the brain different emotions such as adoration and awe are represented, this research aims to provide insight into the nature of positive emotions and to improve techniques that promote them.Juyeon Lee (Hornaday Fellow) -- Juyeon Lee is a doctoral candidate in Social Welfare at UC Berkeley. She studies the effectiveness of school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL), exploring the mechanisms of SEL delivery, the contexts in which SEL works, and differential outcomes across diverse subgroups of students. She innovates and applies various advanced statistical modeling techniques to data that are reflective real-world challenges for the sake of finding better solutions to complex problems of practice. As a GGSC research fellow, Juyeon will investigate the measurement of, and relation between, social-emotional competence among teachers and students in the context of elementary school SEL initiatives.Gauthami PenakalapatiGauthami Penakalapati is a third-year graduate student in the Energy Resources Group at UC Berkeley. She received her B.S. in Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology and her M.P.H. in Global Health from Emory University. Her research focuses on rethinking female adolescent empowerment metrics and how empowerment metrics can be incorporated into causal models. As a GGSC fellow, Gauthami will be focusing on how empowerment programs promote and foster confidence, resilience, friendship, and aspiration development among adolescent girls in low-resources settings in Uttar Pradesh, India. With this work, she aims to highlight how complexities and realities of empowerment metrics can be mistranslated between academic measures and lived experiences.Merusha MukherjeeUndergraduate Fellows (Goldberg Fellow) -- Merusha Mukherjee is a second-year psychology major and a senior research assistant/project leader at Professor Dana Carney’s Micro Lab in the Haas School of Business. Her research inquiries into human lie detection accuracy. Interestingly, the project examines deception in the previously unexplored context of romantic attraction, i.e., how lying affects attraction levels. Her work aspires to understand how truth-telling, trust, and cooperation relate to adaptive social functioning. By understanding the etiology behind lie detection, efforts can be directed towards developing interventions for those most lied to. Merusha seeks to pursue a Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology with the ultimate goal of working in forensic psychology. She’s interested in consulting in criminal court, investigations, and interrogations.GGSC Advisory BoardElena AguilarBright MorningChristine Carter, Ph.D.Senior Fellow, GGSCCarolyn Cowan, Ph.D.Professor of Psychology Emeritus, UC BerkeleyPhil Cowan, Ph.D.Professor of Psychology Emeritus, UC BerkeleyDiana Divecha, Ph.D.Developmental PsychologistJames R. Doty, M.D.Professor of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine and Founder and Director of CCAREBarbara GewirtzRick Hanson, Ph.D.Clinical Psychologist, Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative WisdomRuth Ann HornadayGGSC Founding DonorThomas HornadayGGSC Founding DonorMichelle LongJubilee PartnersFrederic Luskin, Ph.D.Director, Stanford University Forgiveness ProjectBelinda Lyons-Newman, MBAPrincipal, Lyons-Newman ConsultingNipun MehtaJuliana Park, CFPFinancial Planner and AuthorKristian Simsarian, Ph.D.Martha Rock, J.D.Ann Shulman, J.D.Executive Director, Philanthropy AssociatesDaniel Siegel, M.D.Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA School of MedicineNora Silver, Ph.D.Adjunct Professor and Faculty Director, UC Berkeley Haas School of BusinessJill Suttie, Psy.D.GGSC Book Review EditorLeslie WestphalFrank Worrell, Ph.D.Professor of Education, UC BerkeleyJohn YostGGSC Science BoardMarc Brackett, Ph.D.Director, Yale Center for Emotional IntelligenceJennifer Chatman, Ph.D.Professor of Management, UC Berkeley Haas School of BusinessRon Dahl, M.D., Ph.D.Director, Institute of Human Development, UC BerkeleyRichard J. DavidsonFrans de WaalPaul EkmanDeirdre EnglishProfessor, UC Berkeley School of JournalismAmitai EtzioniLia Fernald, Ph.D., MBADirector of Public Health Nutrition, UC Berkeley School of Public HealthDarlene Francis, Ph.D.Associate Dean of Education, Equity & Inclusion, UC Berkeley School of Public HealthBruce Fuller, Ph.D.Professor of Education and Public Policy, UC BerkeleyAllison Harvey, Ph.D.Professor of Psychology, UC BerkeleyMatt Killingsworth, Ph.D.Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D.Professor of Psychology, UC RiversideRodolfo Mendoza-Denton, Ph.D.Professor of Psychology, UC BerkeleyKristin Neff, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Texas at AustinNel NoddingsPearl OlinerSamuel P. OlinerSusan Stone, Ph.D.Professor, UC Berkeley School of Social WelfareLea Waters, Ph.D.President, International Positive Psychology AssociationRobb Willer, Ph.D.Professor of Sociology, Stanford UniversityDonorsAll of our programs are supported by donors large and small—and we hope you’ll consider joining them by becoming a GGSC member. You can also sign up for our free newsletter to receive updates on our latest articles, events, and other programs, delivered right to your Inbox.GGSC SupportersThe Greater Good Science Center is deeply grateful to its generous donors, who have helped the GGSC grow and thrive over the past two decades.Thomas HornadayFounding Donor -- The Greater Good Science Center was founded in partnership with Thomas and Ruth Ann Hornaday, who attended UC Berkeley in the early 1960s... They serve on our Advisory Board.Ruth Ann HornadayFounding DonorEinhorn Family Charitable TrustMajor ContributorJohn Templeton FoundationMajor ContributorElena AguilarBarbara Gewirtzestablished the Peter James Goldberg Memorial FundElliot Gewirtzestablished the Peter James Goldberg Memorial FundKaren JordanAlexandria MarcusRobert McClainLaura MooreDoug PruittBecky PruittMartha RockBrad RockThe Sarlo Family FoundationAllan SpivackThe Westphal Family FoundationJohn YostGGSC PartnersPartners are essential to the GGSC’s work and impact: They expand the reach of our resources, support our events and programs, and help audiences apply our work to their personal and professional lives. Learn about some of our core partners below.GGSC Program PartnersThese partners contribute content or ideas to the GGSC’s programs and resources, work with the GGSC on events, or run programs that the GGSC helps to support in various ways.CCAREThe Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University strives to create a community of scholars and researchers who will advance our knowledge of the human capacity for compassion and altruism.Center for Healthy MindsA global hub for innovations in affective and contemplative neuroscience in addition to well-being across the lifespan, located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and directed by Richard Davidson, Ph.D.Charter For CompassionThe Charter for Compassion is facilitated by the Compassionate Action Network International and seeks to create a more just world through forming partnerships and collaborating with other organizations that value compassion.The Center for Mindful Self-CompassionFounded in 2012 by Kristin Neff, Ph.D., and Christopher K. Germer, Ph.D., the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion is a place where people can learn about self-compassion, find out where to train in MSC, continue to practice MSC skills, and explore how to teach MSC to others.EncoreEncore.org is building a movement to tap the skills and experience of those in midlife and beyond to improve communities and the world.GreatSchoolsGreatSchools is the leading national nonprofit empowering parents to unlock educational opportunities for their children. The platform provides school information and parenting resources to help millions of American families choose the right school, support learning at home, and guide their children to great futures.Rick Hanson, Ph.D.Dr. Rick Hanson has spent decades gathering research, information, practices, and other resources to help people turn everyday experiences into a powerful sense of lasting well-being.HopeLabHopeLab works to harness the power and appeal of technology to improve human health and well-being. Their work now focuses on the research and development of new social technologies to promote human resilience and improve both psychological and biological health and well-being.International Positive Psychology AssociationIPPA promotes the science of positive psychology; facilitates collaboration among researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners; and shares the findings of positive psychology with the broadest possible audience.Mind & Life InstituteThe Mind & Life Institute is a non-profit organization that seeks to understand the human mind and the benefits of contemplative practices through an integrated mode of knowing that combines first-person knowledge from contemplative traditions with methods and findings from contemporary scientific inquiry.NationSwellNationSwell helps America’s problem-solvers advance and scale the solutions that will make our communities stronger and our country better.OpenIDEOOpenIDEO is an open innovation platform where people from all corners of the world collaboratively tackle some of the toughest global issues through launching Challenges, programs, and other tailored experiences.PositivePsychology.comPositivePsychology.com was founded by researcher Hugo Alberts (Ph.D.) and entrepreneur Seph Fontane Pennock in order to create and share science-based positive psychology resources and tools that helping professionals can use with their clients.Roots of EmpathyThe focus of Roots of Empathy is to build capacity of the next generation for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting. In the short term, Roots of Empathy focuses on raising levels of empathy, resulting in more respectful and caring relationships and reduced levels of bullying and aggression.Sounds TrueSounds True exists to inspire, support, and serve personal transformation and spiritual awakening.UpswellUpswell is a series of convenings for changemakers of all kinds–community organizers, philanthropists, nonprofit leaders, government officials, corporate responsibility professionals and more. If you work to make America a place where all can thrive, then Upswell is for you.GGSC Syndication PartnersThese partners frequently repost our multimedia content on their platforms, extending our reach and influence.Berkeley WellnessBerkeleyWellness.com offers a positive, day-to-day approach to a long, healthful, active life. It includes both highly scientific and practical medicine—from the latest research and most advanced tests to reliable home remedies and common sense.Daily GoodDailyGood leverages the Internet to promote positive and uplifting news around the world to more than 100,000 subscribers through daily and weekly newsletters.Fulfillment DailyThe mission of Fulfillment Daily is to inspire readers with tools for a fulfilling life through science-backed news you can trust. GoodnetGoodnet connects people around the world with opportunities for doing good and empowers users to independently take positive action anytime, anywhere, and in any field of interest closest to their hearts.HuffPostGreater Good content regularly appears on international news platform HuffPost.MindfulMindful is an initiative that celebrates being mindful in all aspects of daily life through Mindful magazine, mindful.org, and social media. For those who want to be mindful and those interested in various forms of mindfulness practice, Mindful offers a broad range of personal stories, news, advice, and insights.A Network for Grateful LivingA Network for Grateful Living is a global organization offering online and community-based educational programs and practices which inspire and guide a commitment to grateful living, and catalyze the transformative power of personal and societal responsibility.Spirituality & HealthSpirituality & Health covers a broad range of topics under the umbrella of health and spirituality, which can include faith, Eastern philosophy, meditation, and mainstream religion; nutrition, wellness, yoga, and holistic medicine; creativity, the inner life, social justice, and issues of conscience; and public health, the human body, and the environment.Washington Post: Inspired LifeThe Washington Post ‘s Inspired Life section shares stories of inspiration, help, and humor to improve your life and the lives of others “for a better you, a better community and a better world.”Yes!YES! magazine reframes the biggest problems of our time in terms of their solutions. Online and in print, YES! outlines a path forward with in-depth analysis, tools for citizen engagement, and stories about real people working for a better world.GGSC Education PartnersThese partners help our education program turn the latest research into practical resources for kindness, connection, and resilience in schools. CASELCASEL’s Collaborating Districts Initiative -- CASEL is at the forefront of a movement to create sustainable and systemic reforms in school districts across the nation. The Collaborating Districts Initiative is designed to develop districts’ capacities to plan, implement, and monitor systemic changes that will impact schools and classrooms in ways that enhance students’ social-emotional development and academic performance; and document lessons learned that can inform future efforts to support systemic SEL implementation in districts across the country.InspirEDThe inspirED website provides social-emotional learning (SEL) activities, tools, and a five-step process designed by teens, educators, and SEL researchers and practitioners to empower students and educators to work together to create positive change in their schools and themselves.MindUpMindUp is science-centric and evidence-based teaching curriculum and framework, with over 10 years of research conducted on the program’s efficacy. It drives positive behavior, improves learning and scholastic performance, and increases empathy, optimism, and compassion.GGSC Parenting PartnersThese partners help us spread the news about our parenting resources.ParentMapA Northwest resource for parents, with a magazine, online resources, and books.CulturesThough much of our work draws on psychological research, its scope is wider than the individual. Instead, we try to support cultural shifts in the ways people view human nature, understand the sources of true happiness, and value their connections to one another—all to promote a kinder and more compassionate society.Greater well-being_26272fa4-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea00Sponsor and help people apply research into social and emotional well-being_262731ca-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea00CompassionCompassion is a fundamental human trait, with deep psychological and evolutionary roots. By creating environments that promote care and cooperation—and by elevating people’s beliefs about what they're capable of—we help nurture the positive side of human nature.SkillHappiness is not simply dependent on a person's genes. It is a set of skills that can be taught, and, with practice, developed over time.AltruismHappiness and altruism are intertwined--doing good is an essential ingredient to being happy, and happiness helps spur kindness and generosity.PracticalityScience should do more than help us understand human behavior and emotion in the abstract; it should be applied toward improving people’s personal and professional lives. By drawing on research suggesting the importance of social-emotional skills, we seed demand for high-quality resources that build those skills.PositivityStudying the roots of good, healthy, and positive behavior is just as important as studying human pathologies. To promote individual and social well-being, science must examine how people overcome difficult circumstances and how they develop positive emotions and relationships.Well-BeingIndividual well-being promotes social well-being, and social well-being promotes individual well-being. The well-being of society as a whole, then, can be supported by providing information, tools, and skills to those people directly responsible for shaping the well-being of others.PrivacyAt the Greater Good Science Center we take the privacy of our users very seriously.PerceptionFoster the perception of kindness and compassion as natural_262733f0-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea001A shift in conventional wisdom about human nature, so that the public views kindness and compassion as no less “natural” to humans than selfishness and aggression_262735da-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea00AwarenessFoster awareness of the keys to social and emotional well-being_262737ba-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea002Greater awareness about the keys to social and emotional well-being, including the factors most likely to cause people to act on their instincts for kindness and compassion_262739cc-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea00ProgramsRaise the demand for programs that foster social-emotional well-being_26273bb6-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea003Greater demand for programs that foster the social-emotional well-being of their participants, driven by greater awareness about the research-based benefits of these programs_26273e7c-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea00DevelopmentDeepen support for social-emotional development_262740ca-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea004Educational InstitutionsDeeper understanding within educational institutions of how—and why—to support social-emotional development, nurturing a new generation that is better equipped to deal with conflict, handle stress, and widen their circles of kindness and compassion_262742c8-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea00Well-BeingHeighten emotional well-being_262744c6-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea005FamiliesSchoolsWorkplacesHealth Care SystemHigher levels of emotional well-being within institutions—specifically in families, schools, workplaces, and the health care system—better preparing people to respond to others with care, equanimity, and generosity_26274782-e328-11ea-8c2f-6547f782ea002001-12-312020-08-20https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/who_we_are/aboutOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net