Maya Thiagarajan
Founder and Education Director, TREE
Maya brings to Sapien Labs a perspective on ways to integrate research insights into curriculum and policy in education for better learning and wellbeing.
Maya is currently the Founder and Education Director of TREE, an organization that develops, supports, and inspires teachers in India. She has previously taught in a wide range of high schools including public school in New Hampshire and inner-city Baltimore as part of Teach for America, and in private schools in New York City, Boston and most recently at UWC Singapore. She now serves on the Board of the Kodaikanal International School. She is the author of Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age, and writes widely on parenting and education.
Maya has an MA in Education Policy from Harvard University and a BA in English from Middlebury College.
As an educator, I am fascinated by the differences in how people learn and navigate the world and how this is influenced by culture, methods of teaching and life experiences. Sapien Labs’ research in the area of mental and cognitive health brings new perspectives and understanding to this and can have far-reaching implications for educators and education systems across the globe.
Finding ways to enable better adolescent mental health and cognitive health in low-income communities for greater school success are also both particularly important challenges that I am excited to contribute to.