Linda Charmaraman Appointed Forbes Ignite Scientific Advisor

Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), has been appointed as Forbes Ignite’s new Scientific Advisor. 

Forbes Ignite is a coalition of intellectually curious changemakers on a journey to grow together and challenge each other to solve the world’s biggest problems. As Scientific Advisor, Dr. Charmaraman guides the CEO and members of the community in creating novel experiments and inquiries. She also helps bridge the gap between theory and practice and helps Forbes Ignite think deeply about scientific communication.

“It’s an honor to be part of this community of thoughtful, creative people,” said Dr. Charmaraman. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to put my research background to work co-developing innovative solutions to intractable problems.”

At WCW, Dr. Charmaraman serves as the director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab. She also directs the ongoing Media & Identity Study, an international survey of over 5,000 participants since 2011 in over 20 countries concerning media use, social identities, digital citizenship, and civic engagement. Her research interests include technology in relation to adolescent health, digital citizenship, innovative research methods that include overlooked and hidden populations, and how social identities affect wellbeing. 

Dr. Charmaraman is currently working on Forbes Ignite’s Cognitive Diversity Project: Understanding Innovative Teams. Together with the Forbes Ignite community, she is developing a framework that incorporates psychology, neuroscience, culture, and identity for companies and organizations to understand social dynamics among high-performing teams. She began her journey with Forbes Ignite as a Vision Partner, and recently appeared on its podcast, Inner Wealth.