Employers have a responsibility to address social inequities within and beyond the workplace. Yet, persistent racial bias continues to generate disparate outcomes for racial minorities, limiting their career development and reinforcing entrenched systems of exclusion. Organizational strategies designed to address these issues often lack transparency and sufficient evaluation. This dilemma underscores the need to examine how some racial minorities prevail under such conditions and confront cultural dysfunction and workplace incivility.

Jacqueline Palmer’s Brains in Motion Laboratory pioneers a resilience-focused framework in aging neuroscience, uncovering how neuroplasticity and cerebrovascular health enable exceptional motor and cognitive function in “fast-moving Super Agers.” Integrating advanced technology and imaging, her NIH-funded research challenges pathology-centered models of aging by identifying adaptive neural mechanisms that preserve mobility and cognition. Her groundbreaking work redefines our understanding of brain resilience and informs novel interventions to promote healthy aging.

Maria Nieves-Colón’s research integrates genetic and anthropological approaches to trace human history and evolution. She uses ancient DNA, the genetic material recovered from archaeological remains, to reconstruct past events and explore genetic connections between ancient and present-day peoples. Her work seeks to understand how the transformations brought by European colonization, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and other historical events shaped the genetic variation, culture, and health of Latin American and Caribbean communities.

Brandon Miller’s research on resilient landscape horticulture aims to support managed landscapes to withstand and recover from challenging conditions. His program supports the green industry by developing and promoting novel stress-tolerant trees and shrubs suited to northern climates. Key areas of focus include characterizing stress tolerances of undervalued plants, responding to emerging pests, overcoming production barriers for underutilized species, as well as improving planting and aftercare techniques for use in managed green spaces.

AI is transforming how we think and work, yet today’s systems still lack true understanding of human cognition. Dongyeop Kang’s group builds cognitively aligned AI that learns from how people reason, read, and write, developing systems that think with humans, not just for them. By integrating insights from language, psychology, and real-world workflows, their research advances human-centered AI that enhances creativity, judgment, and collaboration across science, law, and education.

Research-based interventions only improve child health when they can be implemented and sustained in real-world settings. Katherine Hendel works with community partners like schools and public health agencies to create pediatric nutrition and physical activity programs that balance scientific effectiveness with practical feasibility. She also works with existing evidence-based programs, like WIC, to help them reach more families and deliver lasting benefits for children’s nutrition and health.

Laura Garbes examines how racial ideologies and technological shifts shape who gets heard in the world of audio production. Through studies of public radio and audiobook publishing, Professor Garbes investigates how whiteness, technological advancements, and institutional practices may marginalize or amplify the voices and perspectives of audio workers. Industry standards around “good” and “appropriate” voices often reproduce racial hierarchies, while audio workers use creativity and resistance to expand who counts as authoritative, trustworthy, and worth listening to.

Xiao Dong investigates how mutations that arise in the DNA of our body’s cells over a lifetime may contribute to aging and age-related diseases. His team develops advanced sequencing technologies to measure these hidden mutations one cell at a time, and uses large-scale data to reveal how they disrupt normal gene activity. By identifying what drives mutation buildup and how it impairs cell function, his research seeks new strategies to protect genome health and extend healthy aging.

Adolescents of color experience racial/ethnic discrimination from various perpetrators, such as peers and law enforcement, and have culturally-informed assets to cope and develop resilience against racism.

AI underpins social media and chatbots that millions use, but these systems can harm mental health through addiction and unsafe advice. Stevie Chancellor’s research develops a new paradigm of AI development, human-centered AI, that prioritizes people’s needs alongside technical innovation for better AI systems. This work develop techniques that accurately measure mental illness online, improve AI systems to align with human values, and take user insights to give more control over AI for well-being.