The 2021 CMM Learning Exchange hosted by the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution, in partnership with Columbia University included scholars and practitioners, educators, students and thought leaders, comprising a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. This exchange was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kongit Farrell, L.M.F.T.
School of Professional Studies, Columbia University
Kongit Farrell is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Clinical Supervisor, and the Founder of the Inspired Journey Marriage & Family Counseling Center. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. Kongit's interests sit at the intersection of communication, clinical psychology, marriage & family therapy, neuroscience and conflict resolution as she explores psychological mechanisms and relational dynamics that reduce maladaptive conflict. Her research as a CMM scholar is focused on understanding how to use Complexity Theory to psychologically modify triggering data input so that it evades or reverses fight or flight response during conflicts. She hopes that this research will contribute to a method that has universal application and leads to a reduction in violence across all categories, with a special focus on communities of color.
Alexandra Jagiello
Teachers College, Columbia University
Alexandra Jagiello is a Master's student at Teachers College studying Instructional Technology and Media. She is an artist, facilitator, and founder of The Art Exchange and Collective Soul, Inc. Her research interests focus on creating curriculum, games, and interactive video content to highlight the life experiences of diverse communities around the world, including but not limited to refugees from Afghanistan and Pakistan. She aims to facilitate awareness, mindfulness, and action through the theory of collective consciousness. Alexandra is exploring cognitive learning theories to understand the ways humans form identity, knowledge, and create effective models for circular and sustainable communities.
Simón Ruiz-Martínez
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
Simón Ruiz-Martínez is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political and Juridical Studies and a Political Studies Research Group member. Alongside AC4’s Youth, Peace and Security program, Simón has been applying CMM methodology to understand how everyday deeds and actions of people in a community shape and determine the concept of security. Specifically, how explicit discursive actions emerge as fundamental in the way people think of sustainable and innovative solutions to social problems in terms of artistic practices. In his doctoral studies, Simón is expanding this idea to understand how linguistic practices shape the understanding that people have about their fundamental rights, as well as the different attributions of responsibility to other relevant political actors (government officials, police officers and so on). CMM is used under such a perspective as a methodological input that is mixed with decision theory to generate, as an output, different policy options to be taken in consideration by the polity.
Mohammad Salhut
Business School & SIPA, Columbia University
Mohammad Salhut is a graduate student at Columbia University pursuing master’s degrees in business administration and international affairs, concentrating on value investing and international finance, respectively. He graduated with a BA from Yale University and began his career at his late father’s small business in New York City. He is the son of Palestinian-Israeli immigrants from Jerusalem to the United States and is interested in commercial progress in the Middle East, including Turkey. His fellowship project explores the role of newfound diplomatic relationships in the Middle East as sources of social and economic opportunity for Israel’s Palestinian/Arab citizens.
Jaymie Paige Stein
Graduate School of Education, Fordham University
Jaymie Paige Stein loves her kindergarten through 8th grade art students in Paterson, New Jersey and is currently personally concerned at the dramatic decrease of hugs she receives in a given day because of the pandemic. Teaching in an elementary school is a blessing for many reasons, but especially because of the hugs. She's finishing up her PhD in Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education’s Contemporary Learning and Interdisciplinary Research program where her research interests include art education and poverty, rooted in social justice. Currently, she is finishing up her dissertation exploring the relationship between teacher perceptions of creativity in schools and their practices in STEAM education.