Martin E. P. Seligman

Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D., is the Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He received both the American Psychological Society's William James Award (for basic science) and the Cattell Award (for the application of science). In 1997, he was elected president of the American Psychological Association by the largest vote in modern history. The National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation have supported his research. He is the director of the Positive Psychology Network, and his current mission is to transform social science to work on the best things in life - virtue, positive emotion, and positive institutions - and not just on healing pathology.

Barbara Fredrickson

Barbara Fredrickson is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and principal investigator of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (a.k.a. PEP Lab) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research reveals how positive emotions, fleeting as they are, can tip the scales toward a life of flourishing.

Winner of several awards for her research and teaching - including the American Psychological Association's inaugural Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology's Career Trajectory Award - Barb created her broaden-and-build theory to describe how positive emotions evolved for our human ancestors and how, today, they vitally shape people's health and well-being.

Barb's scientific contributions have influenced scholars and practitioners worldwide, in disciplines ranging from education to business and beyond. Her research has been featured in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, CNN, PBS, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, Oprah Magazine, and elsewhere.

Barb lives with her husband and two sons in Carrboro, North Carolina, where she continually seeks out new ways to raise her positivity ratio.

Learn more about her work through her 2009 book, Positivity, by visiting her PEP Lab website , or reading her Positivity Blog at Psychology Today.

Robert Biswas-Diener

Robert Biswas-Diener, is Program Director for the Centre for Applied Positive Psychology and a part-time instructor at Portland State University. He is widely known as the "Indiana Jones of Positive Psychology" because his research has taken him to such far-flung destinations as Greenland, Kenya and India where he has studied the happiness of often-overlooked groups such as Amish farmers, tribal people and sex workers. Robert's research focuses on the intricate interplay between money, culture and happiness. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Positive Psychology, the Journal of Happiness Studies, and is the associate editor of Journal of Personality. Robert is co-author of Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of psychological wealth (2008), which won the 2008 PROSE Award.

In addition to his research on well-being Robert is also a thought leader in the application of positive psychological science. Robert is a Certified Mentor Coach and has conducted positive psychology trainings for therapists, coaches, managers and consultants in Iceland, Denmark, England, Scotland, Turkey, South Africa, Israel, India, Canada and the United States. He is author of the book Positive Psychology Coaching (2007) and the forthcoming Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching (2010).

Todd Kashdan

Dr. Todd Kashdan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at George Mason University. Besides being a clinical psychologist, he is the author of Curious? Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life. He has been active in positive psychology since 2000, when he taught one of the first college courses on the science of happiness. He is an associate editor of both the Journal of Positive Psychology and Journal of Personality.

He regularly gives talks and workshops to business executives, schools, parents, retirees, scholars, and health professionals such as therapists and life coaches. His research has been featured in several popular media outlets including a feature article in the New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, CBS, PBS, National Public Radio, Oprah Magazine, The Huffington Post, Tavis Smiley Show, and Montel Williams Show, among others.

To date, his clinical work and scholarly research has mostly focused on how personal strengths operate in everyday life, curiosity and mindfulness, positive emotions, meaning and purpose in life, romantic relationships, anxiety, depression, and how to cultivate and sustain happiness and other forms of well-being.