Dr. Rebecca Acabchuk has a PhD in Physiology and Neurobiology, with expertise in brain injury and concussion. She currently works as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Connecticut, in the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP). Her research focuses on evaluating the mental and physical health benefits of yoga and mindfulness-based programs, using advanced methods of evidence synthesis and randomized controlled trials, as well as evaluating implementation strategies to bring evidence-based mindfulness programs into schools and the community. Rebecca’s research interests are inspired by her experience teaching meditation and yoga for 15+ years.
Gio Iacono, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut, School of Social Work. His areas of practice and research specialization are LGBTQ+ youth mental health, mindfulness-based treatment approaches, and promoting diversity/inclusion within education. Dr. Iacono primarily focuses on intervention and community-based research. He has worked as a psychotherapist, educator, community organizer, and researcher in a variety of health and community-based settings. His community development work focuses on promoting the mental health of diverse communities. Gio has also been a mindfulness meditation practitioner for many years, and integrates mindfulness in his work as an educator, researcher and clinician.
William R. Moomaw is Professor Emeritus at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and Visiting Scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts. He holds a PhD degree in chemistry and worked to find solutions to stratospheric ozone depletion while working for the U.S. Congress. He then spent 20 years identifying actions and technologies to slow climate change and was a lead author of five major Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports. More recently, he has developed Natural Climate Solutions that protect and restore forests and wetlands to remove more heat trapping atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Dr. Susan Natali leads the Arctic Program at Woodwell Climate Research Center. She studies the consequences of climate change in the Arctic, with a focus on permafrost thaw and wildfire, and the global implications of these changes. Her work has provided groundbreaking measurements of greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost. She also works with local communities in the Arctic who are adapting to the impacts of a rapidly warming climate and dramatically changing landscape. Dr. Natali is committed to seeing both the human and climate impacts of rapid Arctic change incorporated into public understanding and global policy.
Greta Thunberg, 17, is a Swedish climate activist who started a school strike in front of the Swedish parliament in August 2018. Her solo protest has inspired school strikes for climate action all over the world since then. More than seven million people attended global school strikes in September 2019. Greta has addressed decision-makers at UN climate summits in New York, Poland and Madrid, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and in several national parliaments. In 2019 Time Magazine selected her as Person of the Year. Alongside being an activist, Greta is currently attending high school in Stockholm, Sweden.
Melissa holds the Distinguished Chair in Contemplative Neuroscience, an endowed position at the Center for Healthy Minds and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. Her research is focused on understanding the underlying biology of mind-brain-body interactions through which stress, emotion, and the immune system interact. She uses a wide range of brain imaging and biomolecular tools in her work. Contemplative interventions are an important aspect of this work, where the neural processing of stress and emotion are examined as modifiable targets for treatment of chronic inflammation. In more recent work, Melissa has begun to address questions related to the impact of inflammation in the body on brain health and long-term cognitive function.
DJ Drez’s music has been moving bodies for more than two decades. His sound is an organic blend of mystical hip-hop, reggae roots and Indian raga that has been known to instigate an ecstatic dance party one instant, and soothe a group into a meditative savasana the next. If you’re a fan of Drez, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the mysterious, seductive voice of Marti Nikko gracing dozens of the albums, tracks and remixes he’s released over his prolific career. Nikko’s innate spark illuminates. Her soul-soaked vocals dance and play in the spaces impeccably arranged by DJ Drez, highlighting a natural chemistry developed and enhanced through years of performing, living and loving together. The result is a beautiful, eclectic collection of music made for all sacred movement and moods. In addition to making music, Marti & Drez teach yoga in the Bay Area where she and Drez live and love their 16-year-old son and 3-year-old baby girl.
Jasmine is a graduate student in the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Northwestern University. She earned her BS in Neuroscience from University of Illinois at Chicago, where she studied sleep and circadian rhythms. Jasmine enjoys exploring the mind through both her research and creative passions, such as writing and making music. She is most interested in how humans connect and relate to one another, and the factors that facilitate or interfere with such behaviors. She approaches her research with a creative eye and is driven to design projects that observe behavior in as naturalistic a setting as possible. Jasmine believes that through both art and science we more deeply understand ourselves, engage with the world authentically, and bring positive change to our communities.
