This week, ideas42’s Executive Director Piyush Tantia and Managing Director Alissa Fishbane joined President Obama, the First Lady, and Vice President in Washington, D.C. for a College Opportunity Day of Action.

In addition to making our own commitment to improving outcomes for thousands of former, current, and future college students around the country, Alissa and Piyush co-lead a session on applying insights from the behavioral sciences to “nudge” students towards better outcomes.

The session highlighted the ways in which many of students’ decisions and actions—from choosing colleges to selecting courses to following through on financial aid applications—can be influenced by features in their immediate environment. Through exposure to the latest scientific research on human behavior, participants explored how small changes in context can go a long way towards keeping students on the path to successful completion of their degree. Focused breakout sessions then helped participants to envision how insights from behavioral science can be applied in their own work, whether at their home institution or through system-wide policy changes.

ideas42 is proud to support President Obama in this initiative, which demonstrates the growing recognition of the crucial role that behavioral science can play in solving problems in higher education.