Neil Lewis, Jr. is a behavioral scientist who studies the motivational, behavioral, and equity implications of social interventions and policies.
Lewis is a Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator in the Life Sciences, and Associate Professor of Communication, Medicine, and Public Policy at Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medicine. He received his B.A. in economics and psychology from Cornell University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan.
Lewis’s research examines how people’s social contexts and identities influence how they make sense of the world around them, and the implications of those meaning-making processes for their motivation to pursue a variety of goals in life. He is interested in the consequences of those processes not only for individuals, but also for the communities, organizations, and societies in which those individuals are embedded. He is particularly interested in using the insights from research findings to improve educational, health, and environmental outcomes for individuals and societies. To that end, Lewis co-founded and co-directs the Cornell Action Research Collaborative, an institutional hub that brings together researchers, practitioners, community members, and policymakers to collaborate on projects and initiatives to address pressing issues in society, particularly issues that are plagued by societal level inequality. He also serves as Associate Director of the Cornell Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures.
In addition to his academic roles, Lewis is a publicly engaged scholar and science communicator. He writes and speaks about the application of social and behavioral science research in policy and practice for a variety of audiences. For example, he has been a contributing writer at The Atlantic and FiveThirtyEight, and a columnist at Science. He also works directly with policymakers on efforts to put science into practice to address pressing societal issues.
Lewis’s work has been recognized by numerous awards and honors. These include: the Early Career Scholar Award from the International Communication Association, the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science, and the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communication from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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Neil Lewis, Jr. 