MEET OUR TEAM

top of page

Thank you for your interest in the Center for Conflict and Cooperation.

We have lab meetings every Friday. Please contact us if you are interested in attending lab meetings or presenting your research. If you are interested in joining the Center, please see the Join Us page for more information.

DIRECTOR

contact

JAY VAN BAVEL is a Professor of Psychology & Neural Science at New York University, an affiliate at the Stern School of Business in Management and Organizations, and Director of the Center for Conflict and Cooperation. To read Jay's official bio in full, go to his NYU home page. Here is his unofficial bio:

After giving up on his dream to become a professional hockey player, Jay became the first person in his family to graduate from college. It took him three years of his undergraduate degree before he realized that research was conducted at universities (despite attending the third-largest research university in Canada). After his first year of graduate school at the University of Toronto, Jay's Ph.D. advisor (Ken Dion) tragically passed away and he was orphaned until a new assistant professor (Wil Cunningham) adopted him. A year later, his new advisor was poached by The Ohio State University and Jay moved to Columbus, Ohio as a visiting scholar. Jay completed most of his Ph.D. requirements (orals, proposal, etc) in various hotel lobbies during the annual SPSP convention since it was the only time and place he could get all his committee members in the same room. In his first year as an assistant professor, Jay had ten papers and three grants rejected and zero publications. His son and daughter were born in his first two years as a faculty member and ensured that he maintained the appearance and intellectual capacity of a zombie until he went up for tenure.

201CBD88-9F53-48C9-80EB-A2B4C9687A80 2.JPG

ANNI STERNISKO : Co-Director

Anni is the Co-Director of the Center for Conflict and Cooperation. She obtained her Ph.D. in social psychology from New York University and her B.A. from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. She is interested in the social dynamics of conspiracy theory beliefs, polarization, and ideology. Anni has used her expertise to advise organizations on information campaigns, depolarization programs, and non-violent communication training. She also serves as an Expert Affiliate with the United Nations Team of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, which holds permanent consultative status at the U.N. In this role, she has worked on issues such as environmental injustice, data-driven policy making, and sustainable development.

CO-DIRECTOR

POSTDOC

STEVE RATHJE : NYU Social Psychology Postdoctoral Fellow

Steve Rathje is postdoctoral researcher with the Center for Conflict and Cooperation, funded by NSF and AXA postdoctoral fellowships. He is also an incoming Assistant Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University (starting Fall of 2026), with a joint appointment (by courtesy) with the Department of Social and Decision Sciences. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge School, and received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Stanford University. Steve studies the psychology of technology using field experiments, lab experiments, and computational social science methods. Specifically, he is interested in how important psychological phenomena—such as intergroup conflict, the spread of (mis)information, and mental health—interact with emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and social media.

POSTDOC

RAUNAK PILLAI : NYU Social Psychology Postdoctoral Fellow

Raunak Pillai is a postdoctoral researcher and an incoming Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science in the Department of Psychology at Stony Brook University. He received his BA in Neuroscience in 2019 from Vanderbilt University and received his PhD in Psychological Sciences from Vanderbilt in 2024, working with Dr. Lisa Fazio. His research aims to understand why people believe and share misinformation and identify optimal ways to deliver corrections. In grad school, he focused on the cognitive processes (i.e., memory, decision-making, language processing) involved in these issues. At the Center for Conflict and Cooperation, he will continue examining these questions by integrating perspectives from cognitive and social psychology. Outside the lab, he enjoys cooking, tennis, and playing the guitar.

POSTDOC

LAURA K. GLOBIG : NYU Postdoctoral Fellow

Laura is a cognitive neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at New York University, funded by grants from Google, the Dana Foundation and the Roddenberry Foundation. She received her PhD from University College London and was a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Combining behavioral experiments, computational modeling, and neuroimaging, her research investigates how internal and external reward structures shape information-processing, belief-formation and decision-making. Her work at the Center bridges basic science and applied contexts, with a particular focus on uncovering the mechanisms through which AI systems and online platforms alter human behavior, and how these systems might be redesigned to promote more adaptive and constructive outcomes.

POSTDOC

RÉMI THÉRIAULT : NYU Social Psychology Postdoctoral Fellow

Rémi Thériault obtained his BA Psychology and MSc Psychiatry from McGill University, Montréal, Québec. His undergraduate research focused on the mind-body connection through the placebo effect and the malleability of the sense of embodiment. His Master’s research explored psychological strategies to increase empathy and reduce intergroup prejudice, such as taking others’ perspective using virtual reality technology. His doctoral research at UQAM investigated ways to boost altruism and reduce aggression through loving-kindness. Rémi’s current research at the lab aims to test the effects of reading non-fiction books on social identities, intergroup ties, depolarization, and moral character.

LAB MANAGER

HANNAH KARSTING: Lab Manager

Hannah Karsting (she/her) received her BA in psychology from Columbia University. She spent her time as an undergrad working at the Stanford Neurodiversity Project and Columbia’s Couples Lab, as well as directing and acting in musicals, plays, and comedy sketches. In her career, she wants to develop interventions to address psychologically-rooted societal problems, and further hopes to bridge the gap between social-psychological research and policy implementation.

PHD STUDENT

DANIELLE GOLDWERT: NYU Social Psychology Ph.D. Student

Danielle received her B.A. in Psychology and Studio Art from the University of Miami in 2021 and then worked part-time as a research specialist in the Princeton University Behavioral Science for Policy Lab for two years. She began her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at NYU in 2022, where she conducts research at the intersection of social psychology and global climate change. Her primary advisor is Madalina Vlasceanu, and she collaborates with the Center for Conflict and Cooperation to investigate how psychological, sociopolitical, and cultural factors influence public perception and behavior towards climate change, and how this understanding can drive more effective climate action. Outside of the lab, Danielle is passionate about painting, rock climbing, backpacking, and stop motion animation.

VISITING SCHOLAR

TOBIA SPAMPATTI : Visiting Scholar

Tobia Spampatti is a visiting scholar, funded by the Mobility Postdoc grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. He received his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Geneva, and he received his Master of Science in Social Cognition from University College, London. Tobia studies the cognitive, social and affective psychological factors that influence how people process information and disinformation, and how they subsequently shape beliefs, emotions, and decisions. At the Center for Conflict and Cooperation, he focuses on how online climate (dis)information affect climate-relevant psychological and behavioral outcomes, which psychological factors explain their online spread, and how this knowledge can improve interventions against disinformation.

VISITING SCHOLAR

BRUNA MOTA: Visiting Scholar

Bruna is a Postdoctoral Fellow funded by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) at the Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (SCNLab) – Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Brazil. She is a member of the National Institute of Social and Affective Neuroscience (INCT-SANI), where she leads the Global Cooperation Project, testing interventions to foster cooperation among polarized individuals in a cross-cultural study. Her research interests include social dynamics, positive emotions, and the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying these processes.

RESEARCH AFFILIATE

VICTORIA OLDEMBURGO DE MELLO: Research Affiliate

Victoria is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto studying how technology shapes human behavior and society, focusing on social media and artificial intelligence. She received her B.A. from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and her M.A. from the University of Toronto. Her recent work examines how LLM characteristics like anthropomorphism and sycophancy influence user trust and belief change, as well as how people moralize AI and treat AI systems as moral entities. Her social media research explores how platforms can both foster and erode social connection, examining cross-cultural differences and the ways social media shapes beliefs and desires.

MA THESIS STUDENT

NADYA HANAVERIESA: NYU MA Thesis Student

Nadya received her BA in Psychology from Universitas Indonesia. As an undergraduate, she worked in the Political Psychology Laboratory, where she managed and assisted with research on political polarization, violent extremism, and technology acceptance. She is currently completing her master's thesis at the Center, conducting behavioral economics experiments on human-AI cooperation. Outside the lab, she enjoys spending time at the pier, watching sports, or practicing archery.