Dr. Lori Desautels is an educator, author, researcher, and a nationally and internationally renowned leader in Applied Educational Neuroscience© (AEN). For more than three decades, her work has explored the powerful connections among the nervous system states, relationships, behavior, and learning. Grounded in the principle that all behavior is biology, her work translates neuroscience into practical approaches that cultivate regulation, Felt Safety, resilience, and growth across classrooms, schools, and organizations.

Since 2016, Dr. Desautels has served on the faculty of Butler University’s College of Education and Human Development, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate students and continues to advance the study and application of Applied Educational Neuroscience©. She created Butler’s Applied Educational Neuroscience Certificate and helped develop the university’s online Master of Education in Trauma Responsive Teaching and Leadership, launched in summer 2026. Before Butler, she spent eight years as an Assistant Professor at Marian University in Indianapolis, where she founded the Educational Neuroscience Symposium, which now reaches thousands of educators.

Her academic work stays rooted in K-12 classrooms. Dr. Desautels co-teaches alongside educators, bringing Applied Educational Neuroscience© principles directly into daily routines, procedures, transitions, and learning environments. This ongoing exchange between research, university teaching, and classroom practice keeps her work grounded in the lived experience of students, teachers, and administrators alike.

In 2025, Dr. Desautels developed MTSS for Adults©, a neuroscience-informed, multi-tiered framework designed to strengthen adult well-being, nervous system states, leadership, collaboration, and organizational resilience. Grounded in the belief that lasting transformation begins with the adults who serve and lead, MTSS for Adults© builds capacity and supports sustainable change across schools, districts, teams, and organizations. Dr. Desautels is currently writing the MTSS for Adults© Manual, with a tentative launch planned for early 2028.

She is the author of six books, including Connections Over Compliance: Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline, Intentional Neuroplasticity: Our Educational Journey Toward Post-Traumatic Growth, and Body and Brain Brilliance: A Manual to Cultivate Awareness and Practices for Our Nervous System. Her work has been featured in Edutopia, Brain Bulletin, and Mind Body Spirit Magazine, and has also served as a guest lecturer and presenter with the Polyvagal Institute.

A sought-after keynote speaker and media contributor, Dr. Desautels shares her work through national and international conferences, podcasts, radio, professional organizations, and collaborative learning communities. She has partnered with more than 200 school districts, reaching more than 150,000 educators across the United States and abroad – including learning communities in Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Dubai,  England, New Zealand, and Scotland.

Across her scholarship and practice, Dr. Desautels continues to advance a neuroscience-informed understanding of what children, youth, and adults need to learn, connect, lead, and thrive.