Lab Director | Postdocs | Graduate Students | Project Manager | Undergraduate Research Assistants
Igor Grossmann, MSc, PhD
Lab Director
Igor Grossmann is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, Canada, whose research focuses on the foundations of wise judgment, including how social and cognitive factors, moral reasoning, and emotions shape decision-making and behavior in changing cultural contexts. He is known for founding and leading major initiatives such as the Social Science Forecasting Collaborative, the International Wisdom Summit, the Futurescape project, and the Wise Judgment Consortium, aiming to redefine decision-making beyond Western-centric models. Grossmann's research has been widely published in top-tier outlets, including Science, Nature Human Behaviour, PNAS, Science Advances, Nature Communications, JPSP, and Psychological Science, reflecting his commitment to interdisciplinary work that unpacks the complexities of culture, cognition and social influence. His contributions have been recognized through numerous prestigious awards, such as the Joseph B. Gittler Award from the American Psychological Foundation and the SAGE Young Scholar Award. As an elected member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada, he continues to influence the academic community. In addition to his research, Grossmann serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Psychological Inquiry and has held associate editor roles for journals such as Emotion and Social Psychological and Personality Science. He also co-hosts the "On Wisdom Podcast," bringing scientific insights on social cognition and behavior to a broad audience. Professor Grossmann holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan.
Email: igrossma@uwaterloo.ca
CV [link]
Postdocs
Maksim Rudnev
Maksim Rudnev is a postdoc researcher at the Lab. He studies basic values and moral attitudes in a comparative perspective, as well as methods required for that, including structural equation, mixture, and multilevel modeling.
Email: maksim.rudnev@uwaterloo.ca
Yisheng Li
My research program bridges computational social sciences and management. The long-term objective is to pursue big data-driven, computationally intensive theory construction. To this end, I enact a mixed-methods approach that blends machine learning and qualitative inquiry for unpacking the entanglement of collective human behaviors and digital capabilities, augmented by large language models and generative AI. The theoretical underpinnings of my research mainly stem from psychology, sociology, and organization science. Empirically, my research puts forward frameworks unifying descriptive patterns, explanatory mechanisms, and predictive indicators in social settings. For instance, my doctoral dissertation employs a natural language processing approach to quantify cultural tastes in both physical and digital spaces. At the University of Waterloo, my postdoctoral research will investigate trying circumstances in life and coping strategies from large-scale, cross-cultural/lingual survey data.
Representative Publications:
Gruzd, A., Li, Y., & Mai, P. (2025). Shaping Western Perceptions: The Role of English-language Verified Telegram Channels in Framing the Narratives Around the Russia-Ukraine War. The Journal of Communication Technology. (Forthcoming)
Li, Y., Zadehnoori, I., Jowhar, A., Wise, S., Laplume, A., & Zihayat, M. (2024). Learning from Yesterday: Predicting early-stage startup success for accelerators through content and cohort dynamics. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 22, e00490.
Li, Y., Vatrapu, R., & Zihayat, M. (2023). A Systematic Review of Computational Methods in and Research Taxonomy of Homophily in Information Systems. Proceedings of the 2023 European Conference on Information Systems, Kristiansand, Norway.
Malik, A., Li, Y., Karbasian, H., Hamari, J., & Johri, A. (2019). Live, Love, Juul: User and Content Analysis of Twitter Posts about Juul. American Journal of Health Behavior, 43(2), 326-336.
My friendly UW email address is yisheng.li@uwaterloo.ca.
Graduate Students
Niyati Kachhiyapatel
Niyati is a second-year master's student in social psychology. She is interested in wisdom, well-being, and mindfulness, specifically training wisdom and examining whether it helps individuals navigate life changes effectively. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, watching movies, dancing, writing poetry, and blogging.
Email: nkachhiyapatel@uwaterloo.ca
Jackson Smith
Jackson is a PhD Candidate in Clinical Psychology. He studies the psychological and relational consequences of childhood trauma and adversity, family processes in stressful contexts, and multisystemic resilience. He applies a complex systems framework to understand these processes using psychometric network analysis. In collaboration with Igor Grossmann, he examines the relationship between wisdom and adversity at multiple levels of analysis.
Email: jackson.smith@uwaterloo.ca
Peter Diep
Peter is a first-gen MA graduate student under Dr. Grossmann’s supervision. His primary interests include the metacognitive and social cognitive processes of wise reasoning, its applications, and meta-science practices in wisdom research. He also examines social connection through a predictive processing lens. He aims to master rigorous research practices and support trust in the scientific enterprise. Outside of science, he enjoys reading, playing games, and keeping peace between his cats, Bella and Nala.
Email: pndiep@uwaterloo.ca
Maryam Ghorbansabagh
Maryam is a first-year MASc student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, co-supervised by Prof. Igor Grossmann and Prof. Amir-Hossein Karimi. She conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI and psychology, focusing on ethical AI and human-AI interactions. More broadly, she explores the impact of emerging technologies on human behavior, aiming to design technology in harmony with human values.
Email: maryam.ghorbansabagh@uwaterloo.ca
Neil Wegenschimmel
Neil is a second-year graduate student with a background in sociology. He is broadly interested in cultural and social change, political psychology, personality, meaning and belief in different contexts (religion, extremism, polarization, and nihilism), media and information consumption, and the effect of digital social life on what we see as being real or true. He is currently researching how perceptions of societal extremism might influence social norms. Outside of psychology, Neil reads and writes widely while maintaining a life-long love of music-making, vinyl records, literature, travel, and history.
Email: nhwegenschimmel@uwaterloo.ca
Hongyi Lin
Hongyi Lin is a third-year PhD student and visiting graduate researcher at the Lab. His research focuses on cultural psychology, moral decision-making, and the development of wisdom in adolescence. In his spare time, he enjoys watching movies and playing the piano.
Project Manager
Berke Aydas
Berke is a Ph.D. candidate in social psychology at 9 Eylül University. He serves as the project/lab manager for the WAC lab and WJC, managing schedules and overseeing project operations. Berke’s primary research interest lies in how human cognition shapes everyday moral decision-making, examining belief in free will, retributive punishment, and how to alter punitive attitudes.
Outside of academia, he is a fan of the Star Wars series and the Lord of the Rings universe, harboring an ambition to develop a game inspired by these rich worlds.
Email: berke.aydas@uwaterloo.ca
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Molly Matthews
Molly is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing her BSc in Psychology with minors in Biology and Legal Studies. She has broad interests in psychology research, statistics, and research methods. In her free time, she enjoys playing sports and watching true crime documentaries.
Email: m8matthe@uwaterloo.ca
Lukas Salib
Lukas is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo pursuing a BA in Psychology. He is interested in social phenomena and how experiences shape individuals. He is also an artist with an interest in existentialist philosophy. In his free time, he reads and plays trading card games like Magic: The Gathering.
Email: lsalib@uwaterloo.ca
Neika Zawar
Neika is entering her fourth year as a BSc Psychology student. She is passionate about cultural variations in human behavior and human-AI interactions. Outside of academics, she enjoys singing in the University of Waterloo A Cappella Club and baking.
Email: nzawar@uwaterloo.ca
Shanofi Somani
Shanofi is an undergraduate student pursuing a BA in Psychology with a minor in Cognitive Science and a Research-Intensive Specialization. She is passionate about exploring mental health disorders in adolescents and emerging adults. Outside of academics, she’s at the gym, kayaking or exploring adventurous activities – feel free to email her if you need a partner!
Email: s4somani@uwaterloo.ca
Alyssa Ngo Bao Tran Nguyen
Alyssa is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo who's dual majoring in psychology (research intensive specialization) and legal studies with a minor in neuroscience. She is interested in how social dynamics, especially allyship and decision-making, intersect with emerging technologies like AI. In her free time, she likes to game and cuddle her cats Miso and Tofu.
Email: anbtnguyen@uwaterloo.ca
Rainbow Yuli Huang
Rainbow is a third year undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, pursuing her Bachelors of Science in Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience. She is aiming to study anything that piques her interest in the social, emotional, cognitive, and/or physiological realms of psychology. She is also an avid fan of statistics and coding in research. Don't ask her about her tea addiction!
Email: rylhuang@uwaterloo.ca