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Associate professor of history at Michigan State University, specializing in American food in the 19th and 20th centuries. Directs the "What America Ate" project, a digital archive and interactive website focusing on American eating during the Great Depression, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Also directs "America in the Kitchen: The Historic American Cookbook Project" that will create a website providing full digital access to 200 of the most significant cookbooks in American history published from the 1790s to 1960.

Licensed therapist and author of seven books, including the NYT bestseller Set Boundaries, Find Peace, translated into 35+ languages. FAN is thrilled to welcome back Nedra! Her 2023 in-person event with Luvvie Ajayi Jones was energetic, insightful, and highly engaging. Her new book promises the same—practical guidance on maintaining your identity while connecting with others. Just the inspiration we need this winter!

Pentland helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and Media Lab Asia, is a Stanford HAI Fellow, and founded MIT Connection Science and the Trust::Data Alliance. A serial entrepreneur and creator of the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, he has spun off 30+ companies and was named one of Forbes’ “7 most powerful data scientists in the world.” His new book offers a guiding vision for keeping AI focused on humanity, reflecting his deep expertise in tech, AI, and innovation. As he notes, “His spin-offs touch most humans every day.”

A senior research scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Pringle studies emotion, self-regulation, and creativity, including how the arts support emotional and creative development. Recommended by Yale colleague Marc Brackett, she brings a compelling perspective that creativity is shaped by intentional choices and social environments, not innate talent alone.

In "The Way of Excellence: A Guide to True Greatness and Deep Satisfaction in a Chaotic World," bestselling author and performance coach Brad Stulberg offers a practical guide to realizing our potential amid the chaos of modern life by reconnecting to ourselves through the pursuit of excellence. Combining modern science, timeless wisdom, and actionable strategies, Stulberg redefines excellence—not as a finish line to cross, but as an ongoing process of growth and becoming that allows us to reach our fullest potential while staying deeply connected to our values and what truly matters.

Inspired by research from diverse fields and grounded in real-world application, Stulberg frames excellence as the integration of mastery and mattering, providing a clear, sustainable path for pursuing meaningful goals with focus and intention. Unlike "hacks" and the hustle culture of "pseudo-excellence," this book champions meaningful challenges that align with our values and goals and foster deep satisfaction, fulfillment, and contribution.

Stulberg explores critical principles such as defining and living in alignment with your values, cultivating focus, prioritizing consistency over intensity, building genuine confidence, and creating environments that foster our best performances. He shows how striving for genuine excellence can reconnect us to ourselves, our work, and each other, creating lives rich in meaning and purpose.

Stulberg is the bestselling author of "The Practice of Groundedness" and "Master of Change," and coauthor of "Peak Performance." He regularly contributes to The New York Times, and his work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, among other outlets. He is co-host of the podcast "excellence, actually" and is on faculty at the University of Michigan.

Stulberg will be in conversation with Angela Duckworth, Ph.D. (FAN '12, '16), the Rosa Lee and Egbert Chang Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative, and founding faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics. She is also co-host of the podcast "No Stupid Questions."

This event is suitable for youth ages 12 and up. It will be recorded and available on FAN's website and YouTube channel.

A non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, Reeves is a leading authority on issues affecting boys and men. In response to growing interest from FAN partners, he will offer a clear, balanced, and solutions-focused discussion of this timely topic.

The inaugural Howard Marks Endowed Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at Wharton, Kessler is an award-winning economist and recipient of the Vernon L. Smith Ascending Scholar Prize. His book examines the hidden markets that influence everyday life, ranging from school admissions and internships to concert tickets and doctors’ appointments. He will be joined in conversation by Wharton colleague Corinne Low, Ph.D.