Institute Researchers

IBCSR Research Assistants

Current Research Assistants

Lauren Hickey

Lauren Hickey

Research assistant, 2013-2016

Lauren is an MDiv candidate at Boston University School of Theology, with a prior background in international affairs. Her research interests include psychological anthropology in studying religious experience, as well as meditation and states of consciousness. She is currently working with Dr. Wesley Wildman on the Dimensions of Spirituality Project.
Dustin Clark

Dustin Clark

Research assistant, 2014-2016

Dustin is a full-time Neuroimaging Analyst at the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts working on the Neuroscience and Religious Cognition Project. He earned his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University focusing on computational methods in neuroscience after researching the physiology of personality and the neuroscience of emotion and attention at University of Florida. His research interests include the physiological maintenance of empathy and theory of mind as well as cortical modulatory effect of psychotherapies and the therapeutic alliance.
Karishma Smart

Karishma Smart

Research assistant, 2014-2016

Karishma is a Boston University graduate student pursuing a MS in Medical Sciences. She is working on the Neuroscience and Religious Cognition project. Her current research interests include cognition in Parkinson's disease. She hopes to pursue a career in clinical neuroscience research.
Chisom Chukwumerije

Chisom Chukwumerije

Student Intern, 2015-2016

Chisom is a Boston University student studying Psychology and Biology. She is contributing towards a study on dreams.
Victoria Pae

Victoria Pae

Student Intern, 2015-2016

Victoria is a Boston University undergraduate student working part-time on the Religious and Cognition Project. Currently, she is playing an integral role in the research for a study on dreams.
Adonai Sebastian

Adonai Sebastian

Student Intern, 2015-2016

Adonai is a Boston University undergraduate studying Neuroscience working on dreams and Parkinson's projects.

Former Research Assistants

Colleen Wong

Colleen Wong

Research assistant, 2013-2014

Colleen is an undergraduate pursuing a major in neuroscience and a minor in religious studies at Boston University. Her research interests include understanding the role of agency in mental health issues; the ways in which human beings cultivate resilience;  and global peace and conflict studies. She hopes to pursue a career in cross-cultural psychiatry. Colleen can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Ari Fodeman

Ari Fodeman

Research assistant, 2013-2014

Ari Fodeman is a graduate (Spring, 2014) from American Univeristy in Washington, D.C. with a major in Psychology and a second interdisciplinary major in "Ideology, Worldivews and Experimental Epistemology." He is a research assistant at both Dr. McNamara's Neuroscience and Religious Cognition Lab and Dr. Doan's Advanced Cultural and Emotional Intelligence Lab. His primary research interests concern interdisciplinary methods, extreme ideologies, radicalization, and conflict management. He plans to pursue a career in conflict research and management. Ari can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Clarinda Blais

Clarinda Blais

Research assistant, 2014-2015

Clarinda is a Boston University undergraduate in philosophy, religion, and journalism working on the Neuroscience and Religious Cognition project.
Amenechi Chioma

Amenechi Chioma

Research assistant, 2014-2015

Amenechi is a Boston University undergraduate in neuroscience working on the Neuroscience and Religious Cognition project.
Alina Gusev

Alina Gusev

Research assistant, 2014-2015

Alina is working part-time on the Neuroscience and Religious Cognition project.
Michelle Potter

Michelle Potter

Student Intern, 2014-2015

Michelle is a Simmons College undergraduate working on the Neuroscience and Religious Cognition project.
Allison Richards

Allison Richards

Student Intern, 2014-2015

Allison is a Simmons College undergraduate working on the Neuroscience and Religious Cognition project.

Lindamood Fellows Program

Background to the Fellows Program

Young researchers working on IBCSR projects are vital to the future of the scientific study of religion. Their skill set embraces multiple disciplines. They combine the precision of the scientist with the complex awareness of the artist. And they learn to collaborate from the start.

Training students in the IBCSR way produces multi-competent researchers with unusual vision. They pull together ideas and information in novel ways. Insert a seasoned researcher trained with such skills into a room of specialized experts, and the entire group instantly operates more efficiently.

To support such training, IBCSR founded the Lindamood Fellows Program in 2010, with the generous support of the Doug and Gay Lane Foundation and the Lakeside Foundation.

Lindamood Fellows will complete doctoral degrees at affiliated universities while conducting research on projects run through IBCSR. They will receive hands-on experience and valuable training from experts in multiple fields. And they will emerge from their Fellowship ready to make a difference.

Samuel Lindamood

lindamoodThis Fellows Program is named in honor of the Rev. Samuel Johnson Lindamood, Jr. A mentor to one of IBCSR’s founders, he died in 1997, leaving a legacy of influence on generations of individuals. The program is launched with the support of his widow, Ann Lindamood Fischer.

Sam Lindamood was a remarkable man. A pastor and preacher of rare quality, he intuitively grasped the ambiguity of religion. He worked tirelessly to make the benefits of religion real for those he served while carefully resisting its negative aspects. He stood for tolerance and inclusiveness and against bigotry and fanaticism. He was always realistic, always told the truth, and was a superb mentor.

The Lindamood Fellows Program embodies these values and IBCSR is proud to be associated with Sam Lindamood’s legacy through this initiative.

Inaugural Lindamood Fellows, 2010-2011

The first recipients of Lindamood Fellowships are introduced below. More information about each recipient can be found on the IBCSR Personnel page.

Joel Daniels: a PhD student at Boston University, Joel is studying how scientific knowledge about human beings impacts religious beliefs about the meaning of human life. He is Editor of the IBCSR Research Review.

Connor Wood: a PhD student at Boston University, Connor is investigating the biological underpinnings of the healing effects of some meditation practices. Connor is also working on the Spectrums Project.

Nicholas DiDonato: a PhD student at Boston University, Nicholas is working with Connor on the Spectrums Project, a research effort focusing on ideological, moral, and religious spectrums of beliefs and attitudes, identifying the biological and contextual conditions, and determining how they affect teaching, learning, and public discourse.

IBCSR Directors

Patrick McNamara

Patrick McNamara

FOUNDING DIRECTOR

Neuroscientist Patrick McNamara has worked for some years on Parkinson's Disease and conducted research on sleep and dreams. He is involved in a number of research projects having to do with the scientific study of religion (see the Institute Activities pages for details). His landmark three-volume collection of essays on the scientific study of religion is well known: Where God and Science Meet. More information about Patrick is available here.
Wesley J. Wildman

Wesley J. Wildman

FOUNDING DIRECTOR AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Philosopher and theologian Wesley Wildman has worked on many aspects of science and religion. He is particularly interested in what light can be shed on religious behaviors, beliefs, and experiences from the biological and human sciences. Director of Boston University's innovative humanities-science doctoral program in Religion and Science, he is deeply committed to multidisciplinary research and training. More information about Wesley is available here.
Robert C. Neville

Robert C. Neville

DIRECTOR AND PROGRAM OFFICER

Robert Cummings Neville writes and teaches in the fields of philosophy, religious studies, and systematic theology. He was dean of the Boston University School of Theology from 1988 to 2003. Then he was dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University from 2003 to 2006. He was executive director of the Danielsen Institute from 2005 to 2009. He has also taught at Yale University, Fordham University, Wesleyan University (part-time), SUNY Purchase, and SUNY Stony Brook. More information about Bob is available here.
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