Maya Shankar

Why you should listen

Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist and host of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans, Apple's selection for “Best Show of the Year” in 2021. Her podcast blends compassionate storytelling with the science of human behavior to explore who we are and who we become in the face of change.

Prior to podcasting, Shankar applied her knowledge of cognitive science to the design of public policies and programs, first as senior advisor to the Obama administration, where she served as founder and chair of the White House Behavioral Science Team, and later at the United Nations. Shankar has been profiled by The New Yorker and has been featured in The New York Times, Scientific American and NPR. She has a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience from Stanford, a PhD from Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship and a BA from Yale. Shankar is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music's pre-college division and a former private violin student of Itzhak Perlman.