Richard M. Ryan is Professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at Australian Catholic University. He is a clinical psychologist and co-developer of self-determination theory, with over four hundred papers and books in the areas of human motivation, personality, and psychological well-being. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Rochester and B.A. in philosophy from the University of Connecticut. Ryan has lectured in hundreds of universities worldwide, received many distinguished career awards, held several editorial posts, consulted with numerous organizations, schools, and clinics, and served as an expert on health-care and education initiatives. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the Society for Self and Identity to name a few, and is an Honorary Member of the German Psychological Society (DGP). He has also been a James McKeen Cattell and Leverhulme Fellow and a visiting scientist at the National Institute of Education in Singapore, the University of Bath, UK, and the Max Planck Institute, Berlin. Ryan is among the most cited and influential researchers in psychology and social sciences today, and many of his research papers have been cited in prominent media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, BBC News, and CNN. Less