Principal Investigators
Ido Davidesco, Ph.D.
Dr. Ido Davidesco, Principal Investigator, is Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences at UConn’s Neag School of Education. Dr. Davidesco is responsible for all programmatic and administrative leadership for Brain Healthy. Davidesco has a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience and over 15 years of experience developing science curricula and engaging with diverse populations of K-12 students and teachers. Davidesco’s research is uniquely positioned at the intersection of neuroscience and STEM education. He conducts neuroscience research in classrooms with portable and wearable brain technologies and also utilizes these technologies to engage students in authentic research experiences. As PI, Davidesco leverages his long-term partnerships with the NYC DOE, NYC public schools, and PD organizations and his more recently formed partnerships in CT.
Wendy Suzuki, Ph.D.
Dr. Wendy A. Suzuki, Principal Investigator, is a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology in the Center for Neural Science at New York University (NYU). Dr. Suzuki is responsible for all programmatic and administrative leadership for Brain Healthy in NYC. Dr. Suzuki is currently Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Center for Neural Science and has also previously served as Director of Honors for the College of Arts and Sciences. She is known both for her work on the neurophysiology of memory as well as her studies of the effects of exercise on brain function. She is also known as thought leader in the general area of brain health and wellness, as evident by her widely viewed TED talk with 34 million views of facebook (also the 2nd most popular TED talk of 2018), as well as her internationally best selling book, Health Brain Happy Life and newest popular book “Good Anxiety: Harnessing the Power of the most misunderstood emotion”.
Program Faculty
Sandra M. Chafouleas, Ph.D.
Sandra M. Chafouleas, Ph.D. is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Endowed Professor at UConn’s Neag School of Education. Dr. Chafouleas also serves as Co-Director of the UConn Collaboratory on Coordinated School and Child Health (CSCH), and is a CT licensed psychologist. Dr. Chafouleas contributes content expertise related to equitable and integrated systems of support; school mental health; and social-emotional-behavioral assessment and intervention in schools. Dr. Chafouleas has authored over 200 publications, regularly makes appearances across varied media outlets, and serves as a national presenter and invited speaker.
Eric Loken, Ph.D.
Eric Loken, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Research Methods, Measurement and Evaluation program at UConn’s Neag School of Education. Dr. Loken is a statistician with applied interests in educational measurement and health. His areas of expertise include item response theory, adaptive testing, Bayesian methods, mixture models, and longitudinal methods. Dr. Loken was an early innovator in large scale online instruction, building a free, computer adaptive website for students to study for the SAT, ACT and GRE. Dr. Loken has also been an influential voice in the open science and replicability movement, giving presentations on the need for attention to statistical methods and measurement.
David Todd Campbell, Ph.D.
David Todd Campbell, Ph.D., is the Department Head of Curriculum and Instruction and a Professor of Science Education in UConn’s Neag School of Education. His research focuses on cultivating imaginative and equitable representations of STEM activity. This is accomplished in formal science learning environments through partnering with science teachers and leaders to collaboratively focus on supporting student use of modeling as an anchoring epistemic practice to reason about events that happen in the natural world. This work extends into informal learning environments through a focus on iterative design of informal learning spaces and equity focused STEM identity research.
Noah Glaser, Ph.D.
Noah Glaser, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Science & Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri. His current areas of expertise include user experience (UX) design, virtual reality & game design, neurodiversity and inclusion, formal and informal STEAM education, and learning analytics. Much of his work has been in collaboration with medical centers and service providers to create e-health solutions. Dr. Glaser will oversee the development of the Brain Healthy platform.
Doctoral Student Researchers
Oscar E. Ruiz, Ed.S.
Oscar E. Ruiz, Ed.S., M.A., is a doctoral student researcher and scientist-practitioner working under the supervision of Dr. Sandra M. Chafouleas at the intersections of applied educational psychology, health psychology, and adaptive learning technologies. He holds credentials in school psychology (CA) and data science, and has extensive experience in both lab and applied settings. His current areas of applied research include community / public health interventions, measurement of emotional well-being (EWB) across the lifespan, mechanisms of mind + body health interventions (MBI), clinical VR applications in pediatric integrative medicine, and the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model.
Gregory Boldt, M.Ed.
Gregory Boldt, M.Ed., is a doctoral student researcher in the University of Connecticut’s Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Development program, working under the supervision of Dr. James Kaufman. He received his B.A. (Hon) from the University of Winnipeg before completing his M.Ed. through the University of Calgary. He has worked in various educational and healthcare settings assessing and supporting children with developmental disabilities and behavioural exceptionalities. His research focuses predominantly on the creative process, but also includes broader elements of 21st century learning and talent development.