Laura Buckwald

Laura Buckwald

Laura Buckwald

Adjunct Faculty

Resilience and well-being; neuroscience of well-being; positive psychology; influence of nature and music on well-being; resilient leadership; democracy and well-being; well-being and public policy; well-being economy; personal, social and global coherence.

Laura Buckwald studies the development of resilience and well-being across the life span, including the physiology and neuroscience of resilience and well-being and positive psychology for individuals, leaders, and organizations. Her work examines the benefits of meditation, mindfulness, nature, and music on human resilience and happiness. She also studies the influence of culture and trauma healing on resilience and well-being. She is currently exploring how to "scale up" well-being through public policy and the well-being economy.

Ms. Buckwald is a HeartMath Certified Resilience AdvantageTM Program Trainer, a Positive Neuroplasticity Certified Trainer, and a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and is the first person to obtain an M.A. in Leadership, Resilience and Well-Being from Mason. She founded the Human Vitality and Resilience Center (HVRC) to provide resilience and well-being training to a broad audience in both the public and private sectors.

Before coming to Mason, Laura spent 32 years with the U.S. Government, living and working extensively in the Middle East and Europe, including war zone service in Iraq. She held several leadership positions and has extensive experience assessing foreign political events, guiding U.S. policy, and advising foreign government officials. She created resilience and well-being curriculum for USG leadership development programs, teaching evidence-based resilience and well-being practices for high stress situations.

Selected Publications

Buckwald, L. (2019). Hearing Diverse Voices in Well-Being Research: A Call for Qualitative Methodologies. Journal of Mason Graduate Research, 6(2), 130-153.

Courses Taught

INTS 356 Foundations of Well-Being and Resilience

Education

M.A., Interdisciplinary Studies: Leadership, Resilience, and Well-Being, George Mason University 
B.A., International Studies, American University, Washington, D.C.