Author Biographies

Dr. Kevin C. Stanek believes that humans occupy an untenable position. We cannot go back to being simpler animals in harmony with nature, and yet our pace of destruction exceeds our pace of progress. Kevin’s life is zealously dedicated to understanding our world and purpose, so we can find a sustainable existence for nature and ourselves. Beyond human behavior, his research seeks to link fundamental topics like energy, information, and time to uncover clues about our reason for being. His current research focuses on the many ways to traverse a life; how people differ and why; and the implications for individuals, societies, and humanity. His previous research includes twin studies, sensor studies, and real-world longitudinal investigations of human behavior and outcomes. Kevin is a scholar and editorial board member as well as a practitioner, leading the global People Analytics function at a Fortune 150 company. In addition, he consults with organizations, from to non-profits to multinational corporations, on maximizing the impact of their people-related information in areas such as talent management research, retention prediction, and employee experience design. Kevin holds a doctorate in individual differences and industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Minnesota, a master’s in behavioral genetics from the University of Minnesota, and bachelor’s degrees in economics and psychology from the University of Southern California. After 14 years of reclusive focus on this research, he is looking forward to plotting where to anchor or sail next.

Dr. Deniz S. Ones is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Distinguished University Teacher at the University of Minnesota. She also holds the Hellervik Professorship of Industrial Psychology. Her research, published in more than 250 journal articles, books, and chapters, focuses on assessment of individual differences for employee selection and on measurement of personality, integrity, and cognitive ability variables for the prediction of job performance as well as counterproductive work behaviors. Her quantitative research includes contributions to meta-analytic research methods, reliability generalization, criterion profile analysis, and natural language processing (NLP), as well as to deployment of mobile sensor technologies for assessing work and health relevant attributes. Her humanistic research examines environmental sustainability, ethical behavior, and social responsibility in and of organizations. She has studied and served on research projects and blue ribbon panels focusing on assessment and job performance of police officers, expatriates, engineers, managers (including C-suite executives), astronauts, nurses, politicians, agricultural workers, and R&D teams, among many others. She has received numerous awards for her work and accomplishments, including career distinguished scientific contributions awards in her fields. Her life’s work is to potentiate human talents in all their forms. She believes in work-life integration. She enjoys making discoveries, writing comprehensive research syntheses, collaborating with and nurturing her intellectual and genealogical family, traveling the world, experiencing exceptional food, and learning—preferably concurrently.