Meet the IBPA Board
How long have you been involved with IBPA?
I have been involved with IBPA for almost ten years now.
What drew you to the field of bullying prevention?
First, I was a kid. It was hard growing up. I love kids and work with them constantly. It’s hard for them growing up. I simply want to make that experience better for them.
Second, I have set up camp at the intersection of teens and technology. I see so much promise in social media, connected devices, and online environments, and want to make sure their positives continue to vastly outshine their negatives.
What is your goal for IBPA in the future?
I want to make sure that we are meeting the needs of our Association members by giving them the most updated best practices in identification, prevention, and response of bullying and related behaviors. Professionals in schools, mental health, law enforcement, social work, and the non-profit and for-profit world look to us for help as they endeavor to help youth navigate adolescence and become thriving members of society. We need to come through for them in meaningful ways, and make sure we bring together the best of the best people, knowledge, and resources for their benefit.
When we gather for our annual meeting in November 2017, we will host a pre-conference day and bring together cadres of professionals on topic sub-areas. I have always seen the importance of both social and technological solutions in bullying prevention, and so I am organizing a working group of professionals to talk about how algorithms, machine learning, and natural language processing can help us prevent both victimization and aggression online. It will involve reps from social media companies, as well as academic and corporate researchers. This sounds super tech-y and jargon-y, but I am keen to make sure this is highly relevant, palatable, and engaging for our entire Association. This is a major wave of the future, and we must be committed to explore innovative approaches even if they seem a bit esoteric and specialized to begin with. In sum, it’s going to be awesome, and my hope is that it stimulates even more cross-disciplinary research and practice to identify current best practices and most promising next steps.
Who is your role model and why?
Outside of Jesus Christ (who is the epitome of courage, humility, and hope), I esteem two athletes and the way they live out their life and faith with integrity and conviction. In no particular order, I look up to Tim Tebow, who continues to follow his dreams despite incessant negativity from haters. I try to live by his words, which are that “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” I also admire Eric Berry, who plays safety for the Kansas City Chiefs (my favorite football team). He was a three-time Pro-Bowl player before being diagnosed with cancer, and then fought it, beat it, and has now had two more Pro-Bowl seasons since. I also try to live by his words: “fear nothing, attack everything.”
If you were stranded on an island, what 3 things would you want with you?
I’m going to assume we can’t have our loved ones with us, because we are stranded. As such, I would want:
- My iPad so I can read and write and think and reflect on life and everything else.
- A solar-powered charger
- Famous Amos chocolate-chip cookies
An interview with Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. Is Co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center.