EMMA SEPPÄLÄ, Ph.D, is Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education and the author of The Happiness Track (HarperOne, 2016).

She is Co-Director of the Yale College Emotional Intelligence Project at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and Faculty Director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program. She consults with Fortune 500 leaders and employees on building a positive organization. 

Her research on yoga-based breathing for military veterans returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan was highlighted in the documentary Free the Mind. She is the recipient of a number of research grants and service awards including the James W. Lyons Award from Stanford University for founding Stanford’s first academic class on the psychology of happiness and teaching well-being programs for Stanford students. 

She graduated from Yale (BA), Columbia (MA), and Stanford (PhD). Originally from Paris, France, she is a native speaker of French, English, and German and conversant in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. 

Emma Seppala