Mary Helen Immordino-Yang

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Ed.D. from Harvard University, serves as the Fahmy and Donna Attallah Professor of Humanistic Psychology and professor of education, psychology, and neuroscience at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. She is the founding director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning and Education (CANDLE). Her research employs in-depth qualitative interviews alongside longitudinal brain imaging and psychophysiological recording to investigate coordinated mental, neural, and bodily processes through which adolescents and teachers construct meaning from abstract, systems-level, ethical, social, and identity-related information. This work emphasizes the essential roles of emotions, social interactions, culture, creativity, morality, and active youth agency in driving brain development, psychosocial growth, and deep learning. Immordino-Yang collaborates with expert educators and diverse youth from low-socioeconomic-status communities to explore how teachers foster student belonging and intellectual vibrance.

Immordino-Yang has produced seminal publications shaping the field, including the book Emotions, Learning, and the Brain: Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective Neuroscience (2015) and influential papers such as "We Feel, Therefore We Learn: The Relevance of Affective and Social Neuroscience to Education" (2007, Mind, Brain, and Education), "Rest Is Not Idleness: Implications of the Brain’s Default Mode for Human Development and Education" (2012, Perspectives on Psychological Science), and "Nurturing Nature: How Brain Development Is Inherently Social and Emotional, and What This Means for Education" (2025). Her contributions have garnered prestigious honors, including election to the National Academy of Education (2023) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2025), the American Educational Research Association Early Career Award (2014), the American Association for the Advancement of Science Early Career Award for Public Engagement with Science (2014), the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences Early Career Impact Award (2015), the inaugural International Mind, Brain, and Education Society Transforming Education through Neuroscience Award (2008), the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Cozzarelli Prize (2010), a U.S. Army Honor Coin (2012), and a Spencer Foundation midcareer fellowship. She contributed to the National Academies' How People Learn II committee and served as a distinguished scientist on the Aspen Institute’s National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. Immordino-Yang writes and speaks widely on redesigning schools to prioritize curiosity, civic reasoning, and holistic thriving.

Professional Email: immordin@usc.edu