Scientific Advisory Council
The Hawn Foundation Scientific Advisory Council was established to bring together scientists and educators from research organizations, universities, and schools for the purpose of sharing information and ideas, conducting joint research projects when deemed appropriate and viable, fostering the efficacy of mindful education and SEL practices through the collection and rigorous analysis of data, and strengthening and advancing research in the field. Multiple, limited evaluations of mindful education and SEL programs and the effects on students and their schools often result in a mixed bag of findings difficult to reconcile. It is the Council’s intent to mount coordinated, comprehensive studies as well as review other studies to help shape research in the fields of mindful education and SEL.
The Council’s purposes are:
- Serving as a forum for planning, facilitating, coordinating, and implementing studies in the fields of mindful education and SEL;
- Acting as a synthesizer and disseminator of scientific information relevant to state and national education standards;
- Encouraging and facilitating the education of the education community and the wider public in the needs and opportunities of research in mindful education and SEL.
Current Members
Membership in the Council consists of organizations and individuals.
Dr. Amishi Jha, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Miami, studies the neural bases of attention and the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction training (MBSR), a Western-style cognitive-affective intervention with origins in the meditative traditions of the East. With grants from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and several private foundations, she has been systematically investigating the potential applications of MBSR in education, attention deficits, healthy aging and the military. Her work has been featured in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Emotion, and Brain Research and she is a reviewing editor of Frontiers in Neuroscience. As a pioneer in the field, Amishi is making important and far-reaching contributions to cognitive neuroscience and attention training – areas of considerable importance to educators, public health officials and others. (Dr. Jha's Website)
Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl is an Associate Professor of Human Development Learning and Culture and Special Education at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She taught middle school and then high school at an alternate school for “at risk” adolescents. For over 20 years Dr. Schonert-Reichl has been conducting research in the area of the child and adolescent social-emotional development with an emphasis on discerning the developmental processes/mechanisms associated with positive development across childhood and adolescence. For the past several years, Dr. Schonert-Reichl has worked in collaboration with educators across British Columbia in the area of social and emotional learning and, in 2004 she was awarded the Vancouver School Board Recognition Award in acknowledgment of her support for district initiatives regarding social responsibility and social and emotional learning. Dr. Schonert-Reichl has served as a consultant to The Hawn Foundation since 2003, having helped to guide the development of the MindUP™ curriculum as well as conducting research for the Foundation in the area of social emotional learning. (Dr. Schonert-Reichl's Website)
If you are affilated with an accredited college and university, engaged in research relevant to The Hawn Foundation's mission and vision, and interested in joining The Hawn Foundation's Scientific Advisory Council, please contact Dr. Marc A. Meyer, Director of Educational Programs and Initiatives (marc.meyer@thehawnfoundation.org).
