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John Cacioppo

John Cacioppo is the co-author with William Patrick of the influential Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, published by W. W. Norton. Nature commended the book as “a strong message for the lay reader about the importance of social interaction and the feeling that you are part of the social fabric of your society.”

John died unexpectedly in 2018. He was the Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor at The University of Chicago and the Director of the University of Chicago Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience.John’s research investigates the social and neural mechanisms underlying complex human behavior through an approach termed social neuroscience. There have been important advances in our understanding of the links between the mind, brain, and behavior over the past century, but it has been conventional to conceptualize individuals as somewhat isolated units of analysis. Social neuroscience represents an interdisciplinary approach devoted to understanding how biological systems implement social processes and behavior and to using biological concepts and methods to inform and refine theories of social processes and behavior.

Among John’s many honors, he received the Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychophysiology, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences, the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Psychophysiology from the Society for Psychophysiological Research, and the Donald Campbell Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

James E. Block

James E. Block is assistant professor of political science at DePaul University. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, Committee on Social Thought, J.D. from New York University, and M.A., History of Ideas, from the University of Sussex. He also studied at Columbia University in a joint program with Wolfson College, Oxford.

Professor Block’s interests include Political Theory, American Political Culture, American Cultural History, and Anglo-American Religious Thought. He is the author of A Nation of Agents: The American Path to a Modern Self and Society which was published in 2002 by the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

His latest book, The Crucible of Consent: American Child Rearing and the Forging of a Modern Nation., was published by Harvard University Press.

Gretchen Adams

Gretchen Adams’s particular interests are in the intellectual and cultural processes involved in American nation building, particularly the development and role of a distinctive set of American cultural myths and memories. Professor Adams received her Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire in 2001 following undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Oregon. She is currently associate professor of history at Texas Tech University where she teaches courses in topics in nineteenth-century U.S. history and in the field of “history and memory.”

Gretchen Adams received the TTU Alumni Association New Faculty Award in 2005. She has also been awarded grants and resident fellowships for her research from the American Historical Association, Brown University’s Center for the Study of American Civilization, the American Antiquarian Society, and a number of other research libraries.

Her book, The Specter of Salem: Remembering the Witch Trials in Nineteenth-Century America, was published by the University of Chicago Press. Choice named the book an Outstanding Academic Title, writing, “This well-researched book, forgoing the usual heft of scholarly studies, is not another interpretation of the Salem trials, but an important major work within the scholarly literature on the witch-hunt, linking the hysteria of the period to the evolving history of the American nation.”

Jonathan Rottenberg

A leading researcher in mood studies, Jonathan Rottenberg has pioneered efforts to integrate the basic science of emotion with the study of psychopathology. He received his PhD degree from Stanford University and currently is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of South Florida. At USF, he is Director of the Mood and Emotion Laboratory, where his research has been generously funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Jon is the lead editor of Emotion and Psychopathology: Bridging Affective and Clinical Science, which was published in 2007 by the American Psychological Association. He also has authored over 35 scientific publications, including many in the top journals in psychology and psychiatry. His work has received national and international media coverage, reported in outlets such as Science News, Scientific American, The New York Times, abcnews.com and BBC Radio.

Jon’s book, The Depths, was published by Basic Books. The campaign he founded when the book was published, Out of the Dark, focuses on raising awareness about depression, encouraging science-based dialogue, and ending the terrible stigma surrounding the condition.

Jon writes about depression at the Psychology Today blog. His posts can be found at: Charting the Depths.

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