James O. Pawelski, Principal Investigator and Project Director, University of Pennsylvania
James O. Pawelski, Ph.D., is professor of practice and director of education in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also serves as adjunct professor of Religious Studies. Having won a Fulbright Scholarship and earned a doctorate in philosophy, he is the founding director of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, which has been designated a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab. He is the author of The Dynamic Individualism of William James, editor of the philosophy section of the Oxford Handbook of Happiness, co-editor of The Eudaimonic Turn: Well-Being in Literary Studies, and co-editor of On Human Flourishing: A Poetry Anthology. Additionally, he is the series editor of the Oxford University Press book series on the Humanities and Human Flourishing and co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities. Dr. Pawelski is an award-winning teacher, the founding director of Penn’s Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program, a past president of the William James Society, the founding executive director of the International Positive Psychology Association, and a member of the executive committee of the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies. An international keynote speaker who has given talks in more than 20 countries on six continents, he is the recipient of a Practice Excellence Award from the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China and the Humanitarian Innovation Award for the Humanities, Arts, and Culture from the Humanities Innovation Forum at the United Nations. He is co-author (with his wife Suzann Pileggi Pawelski) of Happy Together: Using the Science of Positive Psychology to Build Love That Lasts, is frequently featured in major U.S. and international media, including the New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Time, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chronicle of Higher Education, People’s Daily (China), El Norte (Mexico), and Perfil (Argentina), and has appeared on The Today Show, Univision, Globo, TVOntario, and Radio Times.
Katherine Cotter, Associate Director of Research, University of Pennsylvania
Katherine Cotter is the Associate Director of Research with the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project. Within the project, she leads the “Art Museums for Well-Being” initiative, examining the ways in which engaging with visual art–both in the museum and virtually–can enhance flourishing. In this work, she emphasizes people’s interactions with the arts in their own life using daily life methods and in cultural institutions people visit to engage with the arts, such as art museums. Katherine earned her PhD in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Christa Mahlobo, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Christa Mahlobo is a Provost’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Positive Psychology Center (PPC) as part of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project. At the PPC, Christa’s work focuses on the intersection of race, ethnicity, and culture with flourishing through engagement in the arts and humanities. Before arriving at Penn, Christa earned her PhD at The Pennsylvania State University where her dissertation focused on examining adolescent precursors to early adult flourishing in African Americans-specifically ethnic racial identity and socialization. Her interest in the work of the PPC stems from her belief that the arts and humanities can be transformative and she desires to expand the reach of programs that utilize the arts and humanities as tools for flourishing in communities of color.
Sarah Sidoti, Associate Director of Operations, University of Pennsylvania
Sarah Sidoti is the Assistant Director of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project. Sarah oversees the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project’s publishing program, events, communication, and general administration as well as contributes to its strategic vision and fundraising efforts. She joined the project in 2017 with a background extending across the arts and humanities and with several years of experience in academic publishing (the most recent five as a Managing Editor for Arts and Humanities Journals at Routledge, Taylor & Francis). Her interest in this project is rooted in belief that the arts and humanities are essential for a thoughtful, engaged, civically-minded, and thriving society. She received her M.S.Ed. in Higher Education from the University of Pennsylvania and her B.A. in English Literature from Muhlenberg College. Outside of her work at Penn, she enjoys knitting, sewing, and other textile work, reading, and weekend hikes in the Wissahickon.
Alina Spas, Research Administrative Coordinator, University of Pennsylvania
Alina Spas is a Research and Administrative Coordinator with the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project. Alina collaborates with the team on research and administrative activities, including data collection and analysis as well as administration and events organization. Alina writes the HHF monthly newsletter, hosts study sessions with undergraduate Research Assistants, and leads the HHF social media presence. Before joining Penn, Alina graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Psychology summa cum laude, where she conducted research on creativity and intrinsic motivation at Social Psychology Lab as well as volunteered on multiple projects in Control and Adaptive Behavior lab. Authorship of “Florence Syndrome: Beautiful Madness” article at undergraduate neuroscience journal Grey Matters, and teaching research methods in Psychology as a peer teacher kindled Alina’s passion for research, which grew into research interests in creativity, prosocial behavior and self-regulation. Outside of the lab, Alina studies personality and organizational behavior at Social, Personality and Organizational Psychology Lab at Lehigh University and serves as a Social Media Coordinator for the Intergenerational Cafe Project. Alina loves creative writing and enjoys demystifying popular psychology on social media, exploring Philadelphia arts scene and organizing empowering art events for women. Alina believes that arts and humanities are key to balancing personal and societal happiness and growth, and commits to make flourishing-promoting properties of the arts accessible to everyone via interdisciplinary effort.
Louis Tay, Founding Research Director, Purdue University
Louis Tay is the William C. Byham Associate Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Purdue University. His substantive research interests include well-being (subjective well-being, psychological well-being), character strengths, and vocational interests. His methodological research interests include measurement, item response theory, latent class modeling, multilevel analysis, and data science. He is a co-editor of the books Big Data in Psychological Research (APA Books) and Handbook of Well-Being (DEF Publishers). He is the founder of the tech-startup ExpiWell (https://www.expiwell.com)that advances the science and capture of daily life experiences
Emeriti HHF Team Members
Damien Crone, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, 2019 - 2022
Yerin Shim, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, 2017 - 2020
Hoda Vaziri, Postdoctoral Fellow, Purdue University, 2017 - 2019
Michaela Ward, Research Manager, University of Pennsylvania, 2017 - 2020