Cooperation Scholars Program

Athena Aktipis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University, the Director of the Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative at ASU and co-Director of The Human Generosity Project. She studies cooperation across systems from human sharing to cancer. She is also the chair of the Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Alliance; and host of the new podcast, Zombified. Learn more about Dr. Aktipis here.

Cristina is a reserach program manager working with interdisciplinary teams at the intersection of cooperation and cancer evolution research at Arizona State University. Both practice and research-wise, Cristina is interested in mentoring undergraduate college students, barriers to students’ success, and the intersections between technology and higher education. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center (ACE) Scholars Program and of the Cooperation Scholars Program.

I am an evolutionary biologist and wet lab scientist at ASU, working on attaining my Ph.D. in evolutionary biology. During my undergrad, I studied biomedical sciences and began researching in 2018. My research focuses on cooperation across different topics such as kombucha, the microbiome, cancer, and mental health.

Diego received his bachelor’s degrees in psychology and evolutionary anthropology from the University of New Mexico, and his master's degree in social psychology from Arizona State University. His work focuses on how and why people feel empathy for each other and how sources from the environment such as the availability of resources and predictability of challenges influence people's willingness or ability to mirror other’s emotions. He also works on how feeling empathy sometimes increases our motivation to help others; and at other times, hinders our motivation to do so. His research also looks for environmental and social sources of prosociality more broadly.