Michael is currently Research and Assessment Scholar for the Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest University. His research focuses on the good life, including fundamental questions about the nature of happiness, virtue, and meaning, as well as more applied questions about how people can pursue these things in their own lives. Previously, Michael held postdoctoral positions at Baylor and Yale, and received his PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2022.

People attribute meanings to many different kinds of things, ranging from words to life itself. But, when thinking about the meaning of a life, are people doing anything like what they are doing when they think about the meaning of a word? In this talk, Michael will present findings from ongoing work suggesting that indeed they are. If this is right, it reveals striking connections between positive psychology research about meaning in life and research in seemingly unrelated areas, such as cognitive science, linguistics, and philosophy.

Register before April 13th! Registration closes two days before the event!