Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman, PhD, is the Commonwealth Professor at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. Since 2000, she and her team have conducted research on schools with the goal of using evidence to improve the quality and equity of learning experiences. Dr. Rimm-Kaufman has studied a range of programs, including Connect Science, EL Education, Leading Together, Responsive Classroom, RULER, and Valor Collegiate and Compass, among others. She has authored more than 100 chapters, articles, and blog posts, yet she wrestles with the reality that researchers' extensive knowledge about social and emotional learning is rarely made accessible to educators.

Michael J. Strambler, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and Director of Child Wellbeing and Education Research at The Consultation Center at Yale, where he is also Senior Evaluation Consultant for YaleEval. Dr. Strambler's work focuses on the role of social environments in the academic, psychological, social, and behavioral well-being of children and youth. Much of his work occurs in the context of partnerships between researchers and practitioners, such as the Partnership for Early Education Research, which he directs among three Connecticut communities. Dr. Strambler is a recipient of the Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark Early Career Grant from the American Psychological Foundation and the Postdoctoral Award from the Ford Foundation.

Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, PhD, is the NoVo Foundation Endowed Chair in Social and Emotional Learning and Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago. Prior to her graduate work, she worked as a middle school teacher and as a teacher at an alternative high school for adolescents at risk. Dr. Schonert-Reichl is a recipient of the Janusz Korczak Medal for Children's Rights Advocacy; the EdTech Postsecondary Leader of the Year Award from MindShare Learning Technology; the Joseph E. Zins Distinguished Scholar Award from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning; and the Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award from the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia.