Michael R. Hagerty, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at University of California, Davis, and has taught at MIT and at UC Berkeley. He is an award-winning researcher in the fields of happiness studies and quality of life. Currently he is examining brain states of advanced Buddhist meditators using EEG and fMRI studies. His publications are listed here.

Prior to grad school, Michael was a Catholic monk for 4 years. He continues to practice meditation and loving kindness as methods that foster quality of life not only for him, but for everyone in the world.