Dr. David Yeager is an associate professor of developmental psychology at The University of Texas at Austin and co-founder of the Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute.
David’s research focuses on adolescent development and behavior change, including topics such as motivation, aggression, coping, mental and physical health, trust, inequality, and healthy eating. His interest in these topics – and in the education system’s role in helping students navigate them – was sparked in his first career as a middle school teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He is the co-principal investigator of the National Study of Learning Mindsets, groundbreaking research that developed a growth mindset intervention for high school students that improved grades for lower-achieving students and increase enrollment in advanced math courses for both lower and higher-achieving students.
His research has received several awards, such as the William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Award; Joseph E. Zins Early Career Award for Action Research in Social and Emotional Learning from the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL); and a Rising Star award from the Association for Psychological Science (APS).
David completed his master’s and doctorate at Stanford University and his bachelor’s degree and a medical degree at the University of Notre Dame.