Our Team

Jennifer Eberhardt, Ph.D., is William R. Kimball Professor at the Graduate School of Business, Professor of Psychology and (by courtesy) of Law, and Faculty Co-Director of SPARQ. She studies the psychological association between race and crime and the dehumanization of Black Americans in contemporary society. Through interdisciplinary collaborations and innovative methods—from laboratory studies to novel field experiments—her work demonstrates the consequences of these racial associations and biases in criminal justice, education, and business. Dr. Eberhardt is the author of Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, a recipient of the MacArthur “genius grant,” and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Contact: jleberhardt@stanford.edu

Hazel Rose Markus, Ph.D., is Davis-Brack Professor in the Behavioral Sciences, Professor of Psychology, and Faculty Co-Director of SPARQ. She studies how cultures, including those of nation or region of origin, gender, social class, race, ethnicity, religion, and occupation shape—and are, in turn, shaped by—people’s thoughts, feelings, motivations, and actions. She applies this cultural psychology framework to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools, workplaces, and other important contexts in people’s lives, and to catalyzing culture change. Dr. Markus is the co-author of Clash!: How to Thrive in a Multicultural World and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Contact: hmarkus@stanford.edu

MarYam Hamedani, Ph.D., is Executive Director and Senior Research Scientist at SPARQ. She studies and puts into practice strategies to help people live, work, and thrive in today’s increasingly diverse and divided world. At SPARQ, she creates opportunities for researchers and practitioners to learn from one another in mutually beneficial partnerships. Her expertise is in harnessing the power of culture to support organizational and societal change and disrupting cultural defaults that lead to bias and inequality. The former Associate Director of Stanford’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE), Dr. Hamedani is also a Stanford Ph.D. alum in Social Psychology. Contact: maryamh@stanford.edu

Maneeza Dawood, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist and Program Specialist at SPARQ. She examines the role of social connections and social systems in shaping identity, academic performance, political attitudes and civic engagement. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University and was a Postdoctoral Associate at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Prior to joining SPARQ, she worked as an Assessment and Efficacy Scientist in the EdTech industry. Contact: maneezad@stanford.edu

Maggie Harrington, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist at SPARQ. Her research seeks to document sources of racial bias and inequality, and identify strategies to reduce inequities. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to address racial bias in the domains of criminal justice and social media. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at Stanford University, and her B.S. from Clemson University. Contact: mperry3@stanford.edu

Aminah Joudeh is the Program Administrator at SPARQ. She received her B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Public Service from the University of California, Davis. She previously worked for the Neighborhood Business Alliance and the California Governor’s Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications. At SPARQ, she coordinates and supports SPARQ’s various initiatives. Contact: aminahj@stanford.edu

Amrita Maitreyi is a Research Associate at SPARQ. She received a B.S. in Psychology from Tufts University, and previously worked as Lab Manager and Research Coordinator of the Mind, Culture, and Society Lab at Stanford. At SPARQ, she works on projects about fostering economic mobility and improving police-community relations. Contact: amaitreyi@stanford.edu

Catherine Qing is the Research Manager at SPARQ. She received her M.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford and her B.S. in Psychology and Informatics from Indiana University. At SPARQ, she contributes to projects exploring interventions for fostering economic mobility. Contact: caqing@stanford.edu

Postdoctoral Program Fellows & Research Affiliates

Mikaela Spruill, Ph.D., is the Criminal Justice Fellow at SPARQ. Her research investigates how judgments and decisions at the individual-level sustain systemic inequities. She works at the intersection of psychology and law to study the cognitive processes and social contexts facilitating large-scale racial disparities. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University, her M.A. from Wake Forest University, and her B.S. from The College of William and Mary. Contact: mspruill@stanford.edu

Tao Jiang, Ph.D., is the SPARQ Health Fellow in the Mind & Body Lab, directed by Dr. Alia Crum. His research focuses on the negative effects of low socioeconomic status on health outcomes through psychosocial and immunological processes. He also investigates how social relationships and mindsets can buffer these negative effects and foster resilience. He received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Contact: jiangtj@stanford.edu

Kristina Gligorić, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Scholar in Computer Science at Stanford. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). Kristina researches computational approaches to understanding and improving human behavior, well-being, and social good, both online and offline. Contact: gligoric@stanford.edu

Golijeh Golarai, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist Affiliate at SPARQ. She studies the neural mechanisms of automatic vs. controlled processes that shape social interactions, interpersonal judgments, and decision making using behavioral and neuroimaging methods. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Associate at the Stanford Medical School and Psychology Department. Contact: ggolarai@stanford.edu

Chen Shani, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Scholar in Computer Science at Stanford. She received her Ph.D. and M.Sc. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Dafna Shahaf). Chen's research interests are at the intersection of natural language processing (NLP) and human cognition. She aspires to improve language models by drawing inspiration from human cognition, as well as improve human lives using NLP technology. Contact: cshani@stanford.edu.

Chunchen Xu, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Scholar in Psychology at Stanford. She received her doctorate in Organizational Behavior from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is interested in the social and psychological impact of technology, especially the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in many sectors. Her current work explores how cultural beliefs affect the design and deployment of AI technology across the globe. Contact: cxu66@stanford.edu

Professional Research Affiliates

Cinoo Lee, Ph.D., is a Research Affiliate at SPARQ. Her research delves into how cultures, structures, and advanced technology impact our capacity to build a thriving diverse society. She studies this influence in both digital and real-world contexts, while also examining how these two settings interact. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University and her B.A. from Rice University, and she was previously the Tech Fellow at SPARQ.

Camilla Griffiths, Ph.D., is a Research Affiliate at SPARQ. Her research explores how people develop beliefs about themselves and others through their interactions with institutions, including in education and media. Dr. Griffiths is currently the Director of Applied Narrative Research at the BLIS Collective. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at Stanford University.

Rebecca Hetey, Ph.D., is a Research Affiliate at SPARQ. Dr. Hetey partners with practitioners—from law enforcement to policymakers—to co-create and evaluate strategies that are both evidence-based and equity-driven. She is an expert on race and the criminal justice system and works to improve police-community relations. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at Stanford.

Xiao Ge, Ph.D., is a Research Affiliate at SPARQ. Her research focuses on understanding how to enhance practices of creativity, interdisciplinary teamwork, and socio-ecological awareness in technology design and development. She is currently a human factors researcher at a large Bay Area tech company. Having taught design thinking for over 13 years, she also offers design innovation workshops to children, executives, and more. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford.

Xuan Zhao, Ph.D., is a Research Affiliate at SPARQ. She studies how to help people connect, offer and appreciate different perspectives, foster meaningful conversations and positive interactions, and create inclusive environments. She also works on how people interact with/via humanlike technologies and their downstream consequences. Dr. Zhao received her Ph.D. from Brown University and was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is currently Co-Founder and CEO at Flourish Science.

Nay San, Ph.D., is a Research Affiliate at SPARQ. His research explores making speech and language technologies more robust and accessible for digitally-underserved languages and user populations (e.g., speakers of endangered languages). Dr. San works as an AI/ML Engineer at rime, building inclusive text-to-speech models capable of generating a range of diverse accents and genres.

Vinod Prabhakaran, Ph.D., is a Research Affiliate at SPARQ. His research brings together natural language processing techniques, machine learning algorithms, and social science methods to address large-scale societal issues such as racial disparities in policing, workplace incivility, gender bias and stereotypes, and abusive behavior online. Dr. Prabhakaran works as a Research Scientist at Google on issues around Ethical Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Fairness.

Graduate Student Research Affiliates

Clarissa Gutierrez is a doctoral student in Developmental & Psychological Sciences at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. She studies how identity and culture influence historically underrepresented students’ belonging and academic outcomes. She was previously SPARQ’s lab manager.

Stacia King is a doctoral candidate in Social Psychology at Stanford University. She studies punishment culture in American society, as well as intergroup relationships, and ways to intervene for the better in both spaces.

Julia Proshan is a doctoral student in Social Psychology at Stanford. She studies how people's understandings of racial inequality impact their support for policies toward social change. She was previously SPARQ's Research Manager.

SPARQlab Undergraduate Student Research Assistants

SPARQ’s research assistants are an essential and valuable part of our team. Learn more about how to become a research assistant.

Alumni