Our Team
David Germano, Ph.D
David Germano is Professor of Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he has led many Centers and projects over the years in software development, entrepreneurship, cultural documentation, media production, student flourishing, educational reform, and contemplative sciences. His has a deep expertise in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and meditation and in the tantric and Great Perfection (dzokchen) traditions in particular. Since 2011, he has drawn upon that expertise to extensively support the creation and application of new forms of contemplative practice, environments, and applications in education, architecture, entrepreneurship, engineering, and many other contexts. He founded the Contemplative Sciences Center at UVA in 2012 and currently directs the Generative Contemplation Initiative, which brings together scholars, lineage holders, meditation teachers, and designers to explore the past and future of contemplation through the prism of ancient wisdom traditions.
Aneel Chima, Ph.D
Aneel is formally the executive director of the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia. Before that he spent twelve years at Stanford University where he was Director of the Division of Health and Human Performance and Founding Director of the Stanford Flourishing Project. He was also Chair of the Board of Trustees at the California Institute of Integral Studies and Chair of the Board of the Veterans, Immigrants, and Refugees Trauma Institute of Sacramento (now the Ulysses Project at the UC Davis School of Medicine). Previously, outside of academia, he was co-founder and managing partner of At The Core, a management consultancy specializing in facilitating transformative change through enhancing the emotional, social, and neurophysiological drivers of team and leadership thriving. He has worked one-on-one with over 350 senior executives and directly with several dozen executive leadership teams. His work has been published in Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and other journals. Aneel is a longtime Buddhist practitioner who has a lifetime interest in the world’s contemplative and wisdom traditions.
Dustin DiPerna
Dustin DiPerna is a Harvard-trained scholar of world religions. He currently serves as adjunct professor at Stanford University where he teaches classes on meditation, human flourishing, and purpose finding.
Dustin spent 20 years studying with Ken Wilber and is considered an expert in Integral Theory. He is a senior teacher of Tibetan meditation practices and studied with his main meditation teacher, Daniel P. Brown, for 16 years. Dustin and Dan co-taught Mahamudra and Dzogchen meditation retreats together for 10 years until Dan’s passing. Dustin teaches regularly in the US, Europe, Australia, and China.
Through his writing, teaching, and entrepreneurship, Dustin helps people find happier and more fulfilling ways of being in the world. His books include Streams of Wisdom, Evolution's Ally, and Earth is Eden. An avid lover of art, design, and nature, he lives in California with his wife, Amanda, and daughters, Jaya and Rumi. | dustindiperna.org
Kali Nyima Cape, Ph.D
Kali Nyima Cape, Ph.D. is a professor of Buddhist Studies and has taught Tibetan Buddhism for three decades. Her research focuses on the history of Tibetan contemplative manuals in esoteric Buddhism, Great Perfection (rdzogs chen) and on women in Buddhism. For more information about her research visit KaliCape.com
Adam Lobel, Ph.D
Adam Lobel, Ph.D, practices at the threshold of ecologies, Buddhist meditation and philosophy, contemplative education, and psycho-social political change. A scholar-practitioner of philosophy and religion, his research focuses on Dzogchen Tibetan Buddhism and contemporary theory. He is a professor of Ecopsychology, leads ecodharma workshops, teaches in the Ecosattva Training, is a Guiding Teacher for One Earth Sangha, a GreenFaith fellow, a BESS Family Foundation eco-advisor, and is active in ecological justice movements. Adam is developing a teaching called the Four Fields of contemplative practices. www.releasement.org
Mikey Siegel
Mikey Siegel is a robotics engineer turned consciousness hacker. He envisions a present and future where science and technology support psychological, emotional and spiritual flourishing. Where our devices not only connect us to information, but also connect us to ourselves and each other, acting as a catalyst for individual and collective awakening. He is founder of Consciousness Hacking, the Awakened Future Summit, the Transformative Technology Conference, formally a teacher at Stanford University and board member of the California Institute of Integral Studies. He received an MS in robotics from the MIT Media Lab.
Lihi Eliaz
Lihi Eliaz (Lama Chönyi) is a Tibetan Buddhist teacher who has dedicated her life to Buddhist practice and scholarship. She is passionate about helping students connect with the wisdom and transformative power of Tibetan Buddhist practice in a way that is authentic and relevant to their experience. Lihi began her Buddhist practice as a young child under the guidance of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, entering into a one-year retreat at the age of 14. After completing high school, she returned to retreat for another three years. Lihi studied Tibetan at the University of Virginia, the Tibetan Library of Works and Archives in India, and Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal. She has received a number of practice cycles, particularly in the Dzogchen tradition. She was authorized as a lama by Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, who requested that she continue to hold the Dzogchen lineage and teach students. She is deeply engaged in supporting students around the world and is passionate about finding ways to articulate experiential modes of being in an effort to help students in their own process of growth and unfolding.