Aakash Chowkase, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Greater Good Science Center, where he is conducting research on bridging differences. Specifically, he is developing a tool to measure social cohesion and then using it to evaluate GGSC’s bridging differences practices. Aakash earned his Ph.D. in gifted, creative, and talented studies from Purdue University, where he also served as the youth program coordinator of the Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute. His dissertation focused on nurturing concern for others in adolescents, for which he developed a classroom-based intervention to enhance adolescents’ empathy, compassion, and prosocial behavior. His research interests are talent development, social and emotional learning, and equity in education. Aakash has received the Mensa Gifted Education Fellowship, Purdue’s Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship, and most recently the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the American Educational Research Association (Division H).
Before moving to the U.S., he was a faculty at the Jnana Prabodhini’s Institute of Psychology in Pune, India, where he founded India’s first post-graduate diploma in gifted education. He is also a cofounder of the Jnana Prabodhini Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization working in the domains of education, women leadership, and rural development in India. He is a passionate teacher and has 16 years of teaching experience. You can follow his work at www.aakashchowkase.com.