Stanford
Empowerment Neuroscience Lab

People

Multidisciplinary team

Our team brings together researchers and practitioners from neuroscience, positive psychology, psychiatry, computer science, design thinking, and management science. What unites us is our deep belief that authentic human connection is the foundation of innovation and growth. Together, we study how teams form genuine connections and reach their full potential. By integrating insights from multiple disciplines, we develop evidence-based strategies that strengthen team collaboration and drive tangible, lasting change within organizations.

Interested in joining our team? Learn more here.

Stephanie Balters, PhD

Director, Empowerment Neuroscience Lab
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Roy Collins, MD, MPH

Clinical Assistant Professor, Sports and Performance Psychiatry
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Ali Rahimpour Jounghani, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Computational Neuroscience
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Sabyasachi Bandyopadhyay, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar, Machine Learning and Signal Processing
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Stephanie Lefevre, PhD

Visiting Scholar, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
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Katherine Monson

Strategic Advisor, Executive Coach | Infrastructure Technology Companies 
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Ilang Guiroy, MD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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Simon Huang

PhD Candidate, Human Judgement and Decision-Making
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Marc Schlichting

PhD Candidate, Aeronautics and Astronautics
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Portia Wang

PhD Candidate, Communication
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Emiliano Cuevas Rodriguez

BS Computer Science and Psychology
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Stanford collaborators

We collaborate with leading experts across disciplines and schools at Stanford University.

  • Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences – Understanding how upbringing, societal norms, and adversity shape brain function, emotional reactivity, cognition, and behavior in teams.
  • Computer Science – Developing computational models and machine learning approaches to derive brain activity patterns underlying behavior.
  • Business School & Management Science – Transforming business through research on team performance, organizational strategy, and return on investment.
  • Engineering Design – Applying design thinking and innovation principles to enhance team collaboration and drive R&D.
  • Communication Science – Exploring how positive communication practices foster social interaction and strengthen teams.
  • Stanford Grant Writing Academy – Promoting best practices and excellence in collaborative scientific writing.
Allan Reiss

Allan L. Reiss, MD

Howard C. Robbins Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Radiology
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Debra Kaysen

Debra L. Kaysen, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Public Mental Health & Population Sciences)
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Victor G. Carrión

Victor Carrión, MD

John A. Turner Endowed Professor for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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Hannah Valantine

Hannah Valantine, MD

Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular)
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Mykel Kochenderfer

Mykel Kochenderfer, PhD

Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and, by courtesy, of Computer Science
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Baba Shiv, PhD

Professor of Marketing
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Riitta Katila

Riitta Katila, PhD

W.M. Keck Professor and Professor of Management Science and Engineering
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Pamela Hinds, PhD

Rodney H. Adams Professor in the School of Engineering, Fortinet Founders Chair of the Department of Management Science and Engineering and Professor of Management Science and Engineering
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Larry John Leifer

Larry Leifer, PhD

Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Emeritus
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Ade Mabogunje

Ade Mabogunje, PhD

Senior Research Engineer (Mechanical Engineering)
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Jeremy Bailenson, PhD

Thomas More Storke Professor, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Education
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Crystal Botham

Crystal Botham, PhD

Director and Founder, Biosciences Grant Writing Academy
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External collaborators

We collaborate with experts from the public sector and industry.

  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – Investigating best practices for high-stakes decision-making in complex operational environments.
  • Next Element Consulting – Advancing strategies for positive conflict resolution to foster collaboration where all team members feel valued, capable, and responsible.
  • BrainVoyager – Developing novel multimodal neuroimaging technologies (fNIRS-fMRI) to advance neuroscience research.

Joseph W. Geeseman, PhD

Chair of the NATO Human-Autonomy Teaming Group for Unmanned Aerial Systems
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Nate Regier, PhD

CEO and founding owner of Next Element Consulting
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Rainer Goebel, PhD

CEO, BrainVoyager
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Alumni

Working with researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds has been an inspiring and rewarding experience, filled with collaboration, discovery, and innovation. We are proud of our alumni and grateful for their contributions—wishing them all the best in their future career journeys!

  • Alana Willsey, PsyD Clinical Psychology
  • Aliyan Ishfaq, BS Computer Science
  • Anam Mughal, BS Molecular and Cell Biology
  • Constance Horng, MS Computer Science (AI)
  • Ekaterina Beliakova, BS Cognitive Science
  • Eric Nguyen, BS Data Science
  • Izma Shabbir, MS Design Engineering
  • Julia Dil, BS Cognitive Science
  • Jun Wang, BS Computer Science
  • Kevin Yang, BS Computer Science
  • Kheli Atluru, BS Symbolic Systems (Neuroscience)
  • Madison Lee, BS Psychology
  • Mikayla Silva, BS Psychology
  • Talamahe’a Tupou, PsyD Clinical Psychology
  • Troy Schouten, BS Symbolic Systems (Natural Language)
  • Vianna Nguyen, BS Cognitive Science