Mary Poffenroth is an award-winning researcher and member of the biology faculty at San Jose State University, and a leader in the field of fear science. Her insights on the biology of fear and its impact have been featured in publications like Forbes, Science, Entrepreneur, National Geographic, TedEd, HuffPost, TIME, and Refinery 29. She began her career in the astrobiology unit at NASA Ames Moffett Field, and is a Salzburg Global Fellow.