About
Dr. Furman received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Minnesota. Her doctoral research focused on the dynamics of motivation across contexts and over time, including how affective and social cognitive processes shape behavior in daily life. She draws on these insights to design and evaluate interventions that promote sustainable engagement in health behaviors, particularly physical activity and healthy eating. When asked why she wanted to join the Roybal Center, she said, "A central focus of my work is how interventions can facilitate the transition out of structured programs by fostering intrinsic motivation and maintaining contextual stability and continuity in behavior settings. This motivates my interest in leveraging existing commercial, digital, and community-based platforms as scalable infrastructures for embedding behavioral principles beyond the active intervention period. I am especially interested in collaborating with an interdisciplinary team focused on developing innovative, low-friction interventions that are sustainable in daily life and support healthy aging."