Shai Fuxman is the Academy Director. He is a senior research scientist at EDC, leading a range of initiatives that promote the positive development of youth—particularly youth from marginalized communities, including LGBTQ youth and youth with disabilities. He has extensive experience in social and emotional learning, youth development, school-based trauma-informed care, and substance misuse prevention. He also has expertise in program evaluation, cultural competence, and quantitative and qualitative research. Through his leadership of EDC’s SEB Academy, Shai provides intensive professional development to help Massachusetts educators, schools, and districts promote students’ social emotional learning (SEL) and mental health. Across the Commonwealth, he is creating teams of change-makers who will establish multi-tiered systems of SEL and mental health support. Shai is fluent in Spanish, Hebrew, and English. He holds an M.Ed. and Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University.