Laura L. Carstensen

Laura L. Carstensen is a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and holds the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professorship in Public Policy. She is the founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, where her work focuses on the motivational, cognitive, and emotional aspects of aging and their implications for health, wellbeing, and public policy. Her research has been continuously funded by the National Institute on Aging for more than three decades and has shaped contemporary understanding of lifespan development and socioemotional aging. She has served in numerous national leadership roles related to aging and wellbeing, including as a commissioner on the Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity and as a member of advisory councils for aging research. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and her contributions have been recognized with major honors such as the Guggenheim Fellowship and multiple distinguished mentor awards. She is also the author of the book *A Long Bright Future*, which examines happiness, health, and financial security in longer lives.