from Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and a B.A. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at Stanford, after receiving a Ph.D. In 2016, Maya was asked to serve as the first Behavioral Science Advisor to the United Nations. Building on SBST’s first year of work, in 2015 President Obama signed Executive Order 13707 entitled “Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People” that institutionalizes SBST and codifies the practice of applying behavioral science insights to Federal policy. She founded and is now Chair of the White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) – a cross-agency group of applied behavioral scientists that translates findings from behavioral science into improvements in Federal programs and policies for the benefit of the American people. I look forward to seeing what the future brings for this accomplished and delightful young scientist and musician.Maya Shankar, Ph.D., serves as a Senior Advisor at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Shankar's focus remains with science research, but her experiences playing in South Africa and back on From the Top have awakened a part of her identity that she had thought she'd have to leave behind. Shankar's story of reconnecting with the violin reminds me that music truly is powerful stuff, and a gift that should not be taken for granted. On just 15 minutes a day of practice, she was able to prepare for what turned out to be the performance of her lifetime, and a joyful return to music.
She says that in a moment of shock - and hopeless optimism - she accepted.Īfter weeks of procrastination, she finally picked up the violin again for the first time in seven years and found that, not only did her hand feel better, but playing felt natural. The organizers knew that Shankar had been an award-winning violinist and invited her to play with Joshua Bell. This summer, Shankar was invited to attend the Academy of Achievement Summit in South Africa. Just when it seemed that she'd left music far behind her, she received a phone call that changed everything. As a senior, she earned a Rhodes Scholarship and prepared to move to Oxford, England, to complete her Ph.D. Spending long hours in the lab (with humans and monkeys) didn't seem that hard compared to the countless hours she spent as a child perfecting an etude. At 17, Maya now had to answer the most daunting of questions: "What do I do now?"Īt Yale, Shankar enveloped herself in cognitive science and social activism.
She had been studying with Itzhak Perlman, and worked for almost a year with just her one good hand before calling it quits. The sound of "hand injury" strikes fear in the heart of any musician, and in Shankar's case, she was advised by doctors to stop playing altogether.
Surprisingly, she wasn't earning national press for her music, but instead for science.Īs a senior in high school, Shankar suffered a serious injury in her hand. It wasn't until a producer caught her name in a list of Glamour Magazine's Top 10 College Women that we learned what she was up to. We invited her back on the show twice more before she graduated from high school.Īfter that, we lost track of Shankar. This week's guest is violinist Maya Shankar, whom I first met as a 12-year-old on one of our pilot episodes. That's certainly true in the case of From the Top's 10th anniversary, and we've had great fun catching up with performers from our first decade. Part of the fun in celebrating any anniversary is reminiscing about the past.
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