Barbara Oakley

Barbara Oakley, PhD, PE is a Professor of Engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan; Michigan’s Distinguished Professor of the Year; and Coursera’s inaugural "Innovation Instructor." Her work focuses on the complex relationship between neuroscience and social behavior. Dr. Oakley’s research has been described as "revolutionary" in the Wall Street Journal. She is a New York Times best-selling author who has published in outlets as varied as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

She has won numerous teaching awards, including the American Society of Engineering Education’s Chester F. Carlson Award for technical innovation in engineering education and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers William E. Sayle II Award for Achievement in Education. Together with Terrence Sejnowski, the Francis Crick Professor at the Salk Institute, she co-teaches Coursera – UC San Diego’s "Learning How to Learn," one of the world’s most popular massive open online courses with over three million registered students, along with a number of other leading MOOCs.

Website(s):

Book(s):

Past Shows:

  • Mastery Techniques / Berkshires UFO Incident

    Barbara Oakley spoke about advanced learning techniques. Followed by Tom Warner, who recalled a lifetime of UFO contacts.More »
  • Dangerous Kindness

    Prof. Barbara Oakley joined Ian Punnett to discuss how some people may be too kind for their own good - eventually causing great pain and tragedy for themselves and their loved ones. In the first hour, forensic psychology expert Dr. Katherine Ramsland talked about the Long...More »
  • Evil Genes & Personality Disorders

    Prof. Barbara Oakley discussed the minds of truly evil people and explained how history has been influenced by the combination of genes and the environment. "Genes do matter for personalities and they especially can matter for nasty personalities,"...More »

More Guests