Dr. Bridgette Martin Hard is a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. She received her PhD in Psychology from Stanford University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Developmental Psychology at the University of Oregon. Her first professional passion is teaching. For 8 years, she led Stanford’s Psychology One Program, where she oversaw the curriculum for Stanford’s introductory psychology course and directed a year-long teacher training program for PhD students and advanced undergraduates to develop their teaching skills and discover creative ways to integrate research and teaching. At Duke, she introduces more than 600 students each year to Psychology in her popular Introductory Psychology course. She also leads the Costanzo Teaching Fellow program to train undergraduates to be effective teachers, mentors, and leaders. She has received several awards for teaching, including the Robert B. Cox Teaching Award from the Duke Arts & Science Council and the Robert S. Daniel Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA Division 02). She was awarded Stanford’s highest honor for contributions to undergraduate education: the Lloyd L. Dinkelspiel Award, and also received the Phi Beta Kappa Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Dr. Hard’s second professional passion is exploring the intersection of psychology and pedagogy: She uses data from the classroom to extend psychological theories and uses insights from psychology to inform new classroom practices. She enjoys mentoring undergraduates in research and helping them learn about the classroom through a psychological lens.

Dr. Hard is also a textbook author (Interactive Psychology: People in Perspective by W.W. Norton) and co-organizes three conferences for psychology teachers, the Psychology One Conference, the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP), and the virtual conference Intro Psych Coast-to-Coast.

Jeslyn Brouwers is a junior from Bangkok, Thailand, majoring in Psychology and English and minoring in Education. At the BRITE lab, she has collaborated with Alissa Rivero since Fall 2022 in a two-year-long study seeking to explore why students hate group projects. The first year sought to examine student attitudes about group work through quantitative and qualitative approaches to identify psychological barriers to benefiting from and enjoying group work. The second year of the study aims to use these findings to create, implement, and analyze the efficacy of a pedagogical intervention to improve student attitudes toward group work and help students "ACE" group projects. Outside the lab, she is involved in the Puffer Global Mental Health Lab, the Thompson Writing Studio, and International Association. In her free time she also enjoys volunteering with elementary schools around the Durham area. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD in Organizational Behavior. 

Natalie Lewis is a senior from Bethesda, Maryland, majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Chemistry. Natalie joined the BriteLab in 2021 to continue learning about Psychology while studying Neuroscience. For her thesis, Natalie is determining what encompasses the experience of burnout and establishing the protective and risk factors for burnout. In her free time, Natalie is a barista at a local coffee shop, is in the Duke Pre-med club PhiDE, and enjoys running and rock climbing with friends. She hopes to attend medical school after her gap years.

Baldwin Ma is a senior from Los Angeles, California, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Education. After taking Psych101 with Dr. Hard in Fall 2020 and becoming a Teaching Fellow for Psych101 during Fall 2022, Baldwin joined the BRITElab during Spring 2023. As part of the BRITElab, Baldwin is investigating the relationship between how college students perceive balancing their goals and their psychological richness, a newly proposed facet of well-being that focuses on new experiences. In his free time, Baldwin is involved in Duke's Sport Club program, acting as an Executive Board Member overseeing all Club Sports as well as the president of Duke Club Badminton. Currently, he is applying to graduate school in hopes of pursuing a PhD in Psychology.

Alissa Rivero is a junior from Arlington, Virginia, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Evolutionary Anthropology. At the BRITE lab, she has collaborated with Jeslyn Brouwers since Fall 2022 in a two-year-long study seeking to explore why students hate group projects. The first year sought to examine student attitudes about group work through quantitative and qualitative approaches to identify psychological barriers to benefiting from and enjoying group work. The second year of the study aims to use these findings to create, implement, and analyze the efficacy of a pedagogical intervention to improve student attitudes toward group work and help students "ACE" group projects. Outside the lab, she is a REALTOR in Durham, NC. Additionally, she is a Costanzo Teaching Fellow, conducting her Senior Thesis in the Tomasello Lab, and spearheading Duke's New Neighbors Iniative. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD in Developmental Psychology.