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Institute Researchers

IBCSR Research Associates

Current Research Associates

Richard Sosis

Richard Sosis

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2008-2017

Anthropologist Dr. Richard Sosis is well known for his research on cooperation. He is particularly interested in identifying the evolutionary conditions for the emergence of cooperation within the ecology of human behavior. Recently he has focused his research efforts on the complex relationship among religion, cooperation, and trust. More information about Rich is available here.

F. LeRon Shults

F. LeRon Shults

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2011-2018

Dr. F. LeRon Shults is Professor of Theology and Philosophy in the Institute for Religion, Philosophy and History at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. His many books and articles address religion and human life in the context of the contemporary human and physical sciences. He is working with the institute on extending the networks supporting the biocultural study of religion in a variety of research areas, including secularism, naturalism, compassion, and political and religious ideology. More information about LeRon is available here.

Catherine Caldwell-Harris

Catherine Caldwell-Harris

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2011-2017

Catherine Caldwell-Harris, Associate Professor of Psychology at Boston University, has conducted research in several areas within the cognitive and behavioral sciences, including psycholinguistics, cross-cultural psychology and individual differences. She notes that everyday observations as well as research suggest that causes of individual differences in religious belief are a complex outcome of genetic temperamental predispositions, family upbringing, societal values, and idiosyncratic life experiences. In one of Dr. Caldwell-Harris' studies, atheists reported finding as much meaning in life as did religious persons, but they eschewed terms related to supernaturalism (like 'spiritual'), and focused their moral concerns on the pragmatic here-and-now. Dr. Caldwell-Harris has also studied low religious belief in individuals with Asperger Syndrome. Dr. Caldwell-Harris is developing a new project to study religious doubt in Turkey, a country where she has long conducted research on topics including bilngualism and individualism-collectivism.

Saikou Y. Diallo

Saikou Y. Diallo

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2013-2018

Dr. Diallo is a Research Assistant Professor at the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) of the Old Dominion University. He received his M.S. in Modeling & Simulation (2006) and his Ph.D. in M&S (2010) from ODU. His research focuses on the theory of interoperability as it relates to Model-based Data Engineering and Web Services for M&S applications. Dr. Diallo has authored or co-authored over fifty publications including a number of awarded papers and articles in conferences, journals and book chapters. He participates in a number of Modeling and Simulation related organizations and conferences and is currently the co-chair of the Coalition Battle Management Language drafting group, an M&S IEEE standard development group. Dr. Diallo works with IBCSR on the Simulating Religion Project.

Megan K. DeFranza

Megan K. DeFranza

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2014-2017

Megan DeFranza (PhD, Marquette University) is a Christian theologian working in theological anthropology, sex, gender, and sexuality. Her first book is Sex Difference in Christian Theology: Male, Female, and Intersex in the Image of God (Eerdmans 2015). She has also collaborated with Susannah Cornwall (Univ. of Exeter, UK) et al. on Intersex, Theology, and the Bible: Troubling Bodies in Church, Text, and Society (Palgrave MacMillan) and contributed to Evangelical Postcolonial Conversations (IVP). She is working with Dr. Wesley Wildman and Dr. Patrick McNamara and a number of doctoral students on the Institute's Sex Differences and Religion project.

Luke J. Matthews

Luke J. Matthews

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2014-2017
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, 2008-2012

Dr. Luke Matthews is an Anthropologist for the Rand Corporation. Formerly, he was Senior Scientific Director at Activate Networks Inc., a startup social network analysis company, and prior to that a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University. He holds a PhD and MA in Anthropology from New York University, and bachelor's degrees in Anthropology and Biology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Matthews has studied biocultural inheritance in systems ranging from social networks of capuchin monkeys, to ancient human migrations and extant human cultural variation. His research has been featured in New Scientist, The Washington Post, The New York Times and other venues. His primary research interests include network and phylogenetic analysis, cultural dynamics, personality genetics, and applied social science. He worked on IBCSR's Religious Violence Project as a post-doctoral fellow and is currently working on the Sex Differences and Religion Project as a research associate. Find out more about Luke here.

Ann Taves

Ann Taves

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2015-2017

Ann Taves is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara where she teaches courses in methods and theories in the study of religion and the history of Christianity, along with directing the Religion, Experience, and Mind Lab Group. Her books and articles address the role of unusual experiences in established religions and emergent spiritual paths, methods appropriate to the interdisciplinary study of anomalous experiences, and tools for bridging between the humanities and the natural sciences. She is a past president of the American Academy of Religion (2010), where she with Ted Slingerland co-founded the Cognitive Science of Religion Group, and the president elect of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion. More information about Ann is available here.

Raymond F. Paloutzian

Raymond F. Paloutzian

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2015-2017

Ray Paloutzian (PhD, Claremont Graduate School) is Professor Emeritus of experimental and social psychology, Westmont College, and consultant to the Religion, Experience, and Mind (REM) Lab Group at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was Visiting Professor at Stanford University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. He is Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and of the American Psychological Association and its Divisions on Psychology of Religion, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, and International Psychology. Ray edited The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (1998-2016). He co-edited Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Psychological Pathways to Conflict Transformation and Peace Building (Springer, 2010), the Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality 2nd.ed. (Guilford, 2013), and Process of Believing: The Acquisition, Maintenance, and Change in Creditions (Springer, 2016).  His textbook Invitation to the Psychology of Religion (1st ed. 1983, 3rd ed. 2016, Guilford) helped establish the psychology of religion in its modern period. More information about Ray is available here.

Joseph Bulbulia

Joseph Bulbulia

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2015-2017

Joseph Bulbulia is an evolutionary scholar of religion. He is interested in how religious commitments and institutions co-evolved and continue to affect people. Bulbulia received his PhD from Princeton University in 2001 (Thesis: Before Eden, Religion and the Evolved Mind). Since 2000, Bulbulia has been member of the Religious Studies Programme at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, where he teaches courses on ritual, methods and theories in the study of religion, the psychology of religion, and the biology of religion. During 2014-2015, he was President of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religions, and is a core contributor to the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study and Pulotu, a database of Pacific Religions. Bulbulia has been a co-editor of Religion, Brain & Behavior since 2015. For more information and links to Bulbulia's publications see his website.

Uffe Schjoedt

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2016-2017

Uffe Schjoedt is a neuroscientist studying religion. He is Associate Professor in the school of Culture and Society, Department of the Study of Religion at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. Uffe is co-editor of IBCSR's journal Religion, Brain & Behavior. website.

Phil Zuckerman

Phil Zuckerman

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2016-2017

Phil Zuckerman is a sociologist conducting research and writing on secularism, atheism, and unbelief. He is Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College in Southern California. More information about Phil is available in his website.

John Sokolowski

John Sokolowski

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 2016-2017

John Sokolowski directs the Virgina Modeling, Analysis & Simulation Center at Old Dominion University. He works with IBCSR on unbelief research and computer simulation and modeling.

Former Research Associates

James Burns, 2008-2010

Charles Nunn, 2008-2012

Katherine Verdolini Abbott, 2009-2011

Magda Giordano, 2013-2014

Kirk Wegter -McNelly, 2013-2014

Andreas Tolk, 2013-2014

Ruben Mancha, 2013-2015

Michael Spezio 2015-2016

IBCSR Post-Doctoral Fellows

Current Post-Doctoral Fellows

Connor Wood

Connor Wood

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, 2016-2018

LINDAMOOD FELLOW, 2010-2015

Connor Wood recently earned his PhD from the Graduate Division of Religious Studies at Boston University. His research interests include religion and health, human ethology, signaling theory, ritual studies, shamanism, evolutionary theory, cultural evolution, cognitive styles, and the public understanding of issues in science and religion. He is currently working on the Modeling Religion Project. Connor can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Joel C. Daniels

Joel C. Daniels

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, 2015-2017
LINDAMOOD FELLOW, 2010-2014
DOCTORAL FELLOW, 2009-2010

Joel Daniels (PhD, Boston University) edits the IBCSR Research Review. He is also Assistant Editor for Religion, Brain & Behavior. Visit his BU webpage here.

Stephanie N. Arel

Stephanie N. Arel

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, 2015-2017

Dr. Stephanie N. Arel completed a PhD from Boston University’s School of Theology and is currently training in trauma modalities for clinical treatment at the New York Institute for the Psychotherapies. Her work on IBCSR’s Sex Differences and Religion Project probes questions about the constitution of material and spiritual bodies, as well as how both interdepend on sexual reproduction. She is also interested in the ontogeny of shame and the role of violence in spiritual formation, especially as these relate to sex and gender.

Justin E. Lane

Justin E. Lane

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, 2015-2018

Dr. Justin Lane completed a doctoral at Oxford University and is working in the Institute's Modeling Religion Project.

Yair Lior

Yair Lior

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, 2015-2017

Dr. Yair Lior completed his doctoral studies at Boston University. His research at IBCSR is in the Comparative Cultural Systems Project, where he focuses on systems and information approaches to comparative religion. He is particularly interested in highlighting parallels between the Chinese and Jewish traditions as a showcase for the instrumentality of new comparative methodologies. His academic training is in Chinese philosophy, religion, and Song dynasty intellectual history, especially Neo-Confucian thought.

Former Post-Doctoral Fellows

Nat Barrett, 2007-2013

Luke Matthews, 2008-2012

Brandon Daniel-Hughes, 2008-2009

Edward Modestino, 2013-2015

Aimee Radom, 2011-2015

Ravi Iyer, 2012-2015

Erica Harris, 2013-2015

P. Monroe Butler, 2013-2015

IBCSR Doctoral Fellows

Current Doctoral Fellows

Jonathan Morgan

Jonathan Morgan

CONTRIBUTOR to SCIENCEONRELIGION.ORG and EXPLORINGMYRELIGION.ORG, 2012-2015
LINDAMOOD FELLOW, 2013-2019

Jonathan Morgan began working with IBCSR when he was a masters student studying psychology and theology at Boston University. He continues as a Lindamood Doctoral Fellow, working on IBCSR's Neuroscience and Religious Cognition Project. He is particularly interested in understanding spirituality and its relationship to mental health. He is a regular contributor to ScienceOnReligion.org and the principal blogger at ExploringMyReligion.org.

Chris Halloran

Christopher Halloran

LINDAMOOD FELLOW, 2013-2019

Chris Halloran is a doctoral candidate in Boston University's Religion and Science graduate program. Through the Lindamood Fellowship, he works with Drs. Patrick McNamara and Wesley Wildman studying the neurobiology of religious cognition, focusing on the role of brain dopamine in the comprehension of religious concepts and theory of mind. His interests include the formulation of a science-driven metaphysical and epistemological pragmatist theory of religion and the intersection of science with religious and “non-religious” (cf. Humanist) communities in 21st century American politics, education, and media.

David Rohr

David Rohr

DOCTORAL FELLOW, 2013-2014, 2015-2017

David Rohr earned his MDiv from the Boston University School of Theology in 2012 and is currently working on his PhD in Religion and Science at BU's Graduate Division of Religious Studies. Dave is working with Wesley Wildman on the Dimensions of Spirituality Project and with Patrick McNamara on the Neuroscience and Religious Cognition Project. His own research is focused on the intersection of scientific and religious perspectives on human nature. Dave's long-term goal is to contribute to the development of a theological anthropology that is consistent with contemporary science, yet capable of fully affirming human spiritual quests.

Jennifer Lindsay

Jennifer Lindsay

LINDAMOOD FELLOW, 2014-2018

Jenn Lindsay is a PhD Candidate at Boston University's Graduate Division of Religious Studies, where she studies how religious difference affects personal relationships in families, friendships, and interfaith dialogue groups. She is presently conducting ethnographic dissertation research at Confronti Magazine in Rome, analyzing the nature and networks of interfaith dialogue in Italy. She is IBCSR's documentarian and has produced a series of videos about ongoing IBCSR projects and important trends at the Institute. Jenn uses her research and her documentary filmmaking to encourage reflection about religion “outside the box”: beyond institutions and policies, and within real lives and relationships. She earned her Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Interfaith Relations at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She hails from San Diego, California and worked for a decade in New York City as an independent musician and filmmaker. Find out more about Jenn here.

Kate Stockly-Meyerdirk

Kate Stockly

DOCTORAL FELLOW, 2014-2017

Kate Stockly-Meyerdirk is working on her PhD in Science, Philosophy, and Religion at Boston University's Graduate Division of Religious Studies. Within IBCSR, she is working with Dr. Wesley Wildman and Dr. Patrick McNamara on the Sex Differences and Religion Project, seeking to uncover the complex interactions among sex, gender, religion, and spirituality. In general, her work is characterized by multidisciplinary investigation into human religiosity that aspires to harmonize the sciences and humanities.

 

 

Former Doctoral Fellows

Nicholas DiDonato, 2010-2015

Erica Harris 2007-2013

Derek Michaud, 2008-2010

Jeffrey Edmonds, 2008-2012

Joel Daniels, 2009-2010

P. Monroe Butler, 2009-2011

Daniel Ansted, 2011-2012

Ian Cooley, 2012-2014

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