Meet The Team
The Stanford Psychology Podcast is a student-lead project that wants to make psychology accessible for everyone. Co-founded by PhD students Eric Neumann and Anjie Cao in 2021, the current Stanford Psychology Podcast team is run by a team of volunteers who regularly contribute in various ways.
Founders
I’m a recent Ph.D. graduate of the Stanford Psychology department and worked primarily with Jamil Zaki at the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. I earned my B.Sc. at the Free University of Berlin. I spent my junior year as a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago, and the following summer as a research assistant at Harvard. My principal interests include why we tend to cynically underestimate how social and prosocial a species we are, as well as testing interventions to reconnect us across social and moral divides. I love to explore new countries, and enjoy food – so long as I don’t have to prepare it. In college, I would often listen to psychology podcasts rather than do my actual psychology coursework. It seemed more fun and engaging, and I often learned much more than in my classes! I now wanted to contribute to this podcasting world myself and co-founded the Stanford Psychology Podcast with Anjie in Spring 2021. It’s been one of the most rewarding experiences in grad school so far to connect with all these brilliant guests, and to build up a podcast team of smart and caring folks in the department.
I'm part of the podcast leadership team and a recent PhD graduate in the developmental area, working with Michael Frank. I am interested in understanding how people decide what to look at and when to stop looking. I received a B.S. in Cognitive Science and Philosophy from Carnegie Mellon University. Before Stanford, I was primarily doing science communication through writing in China. When Eric first brought up the idea of doing a podcast, I was a little bit intimidated: English is not my first language, can I really do it? Well, it turns out the answer is yes! Running the show with Eric and all the other hosts has truly been the most rewarding and fun experience I have in graduate school so far! In my freetime, I like to read, write, netflix, and pet cats!
Hosts
I’m part of the podcast leadership team and a fourth-year PhD student in psychology (affective area) at Stanford!
Hi, I'm Misha! I'm an inaugural predoctoral fellow at the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS), working jointly with Hyowon Gweon (Psychology) and Robert Hawkins (Linguistics). In 2023, I graduated with highest honors from UW-Madison with a B.S. in both Psychology and Economics. Here at Stanford, I'm broadly interested in how we think about each other's minds—and the underlying computations and representations that make this reasoning possible. I didn't have much science communication experience before coming here, but I was actually a huge fan of this very podcast for years. It was one of the first things I looked for when I decided to come to Stanford, and getting involved has just been an incredible experience. So excited for all the episodes yet to come!
Hi there! I'm Adani :) I’m part of the podcast leadership team and a third-year Ph.D. student at Stanford! I also collaborate closely with the Bonawitz Computational Cognitive Development Lab at Harvard University. In my work, I’m passionate about two things: (1) contributing to basic research on how our minds & brains think, learn, and develop from childhood onward, and (2), finding ways to bridge our understanding from research with policy, technology, and education to support children’s development and learning (and to mitigate what hinders it). The podcast is one of my favorite ways to help build bridges between research and the world “outside” of research, and I'm excited for all that lies ahead in working with this awesome team :) Outside of work, I like to read and write, wander around and photograph my surroundings, and dabble in small web design projects. I also enjoy baking, home decor/interior design, and winter sports (skiing & ice skating), and I try my best to keep up with the latest shows and movies
I’m a PhD student working with Dr. Kalanit Grill-Spector at the Stanford Vision and Perception Neuroscience Lab! I’m broadly interested in understanding the neural basis underlying how humans to extract rich information from visual information. At the moment, I’m trying to understand how visual experience change across development and how it impacts our functional organization in the brain. Before coming to Stanford, I did my undergrad at Johns Hopkins University and received B.A. in Cognitive Science and B.A. in Medicine, Science and Humanities. I love reading fiction, going on hikes, and playing tennis. Since moving to California, I picked up beach volleyball too! I’m also passionate about creative writing; I hope I can publish a novel one day.
Faculty Advisor
Jamil Zaki (he/him)
I am a professor of psychology at Stanford and Director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. In addition to research, I am passionate about public communication of science, and head our Department's Media and Outreach Committee, which supports this podcast. Outside of work, I enjoy running (slowly) along San Francisco's waterfront, and generally joining in for whatever my 6 and 5-year old kids are into these days.
Assistant Producers
![bruno[5].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/8419a1_99ffdeefddcd404fabb92f4c30128b1b~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_182,y_0,w_1237,h_1237/fill/w_119,h_119,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/bruno%5B5%5D.png)
Bruno
Bruno is always the cutest cat in the room and he knows it. He can seem rather disinterested in the world at large. But whenever someone is in pain, he’ll know it and comfort them with his overwhelming cuteness. He currently lives in Eric’s hometown in Rostock, Germany.
Woody (orange one) & Cat (black & white one)
Woody and Cat are assistant producers to Bella. Cat is a senior assistant and serves as a supervisor to assistant Woody. They help Bella produce great podcast episodes by making sure that Bella gets plenty of naps with them. They also help with marketing materials and occasionally pose as models for Bella’s Twitter posts.
Useless Bonbon
Bonbon (2020, 2021, 2022) suggests that the presence of an individual cat (i.e. Bonbon) is a positive predictor of mental well being and productivity. This robust effect is "omg" enough, said anjie. Feed me NOW.