Sonny Mattek, CSO
As CSO of Inner State, Dr. Sonny Mattek aims to bring scientific rigor to studying the personal inner journey and path to wellness. Dr. Sonny received her PhD in Psychological & Brain Sciences from Dartmouth College, and has conducted research in the Psychology Departments at Stanford University and University of Oregon.
She has 13 years of experience conducting behavioral and neuroscience research, with a focus on neuroimaging methods, including fMRI and EEG. She creatively applies interdisciplinary methods to study the mind and brain, incorporating physics, engineering, and artificial intelligence, as well as other fields of knowledge. She has a passion for finding better ways to measure the mind, emotions, and other aspects of the inner world. Her work has been published in top peer-reviewed journals, including Perspectives on Psychological Science.
Dr. Mattek founded the Interdisciplinary Research Institute at Shasta (IRIS), which is home for creative, ambitious, and collaborative research projects. These projects aim to integrate information across approaches and disciplines, including meditation, neuroscience, music, and plant medicine, in order to create data and tools that help people alleviate their suffering.
Dr. Mattek also holds a master’s degree in Digital Musics from Dartmouth College and has played piano for 29 years. She is a student of the master plants Bobinsana and Ayahuasca. She is an avid meditation practitioner and has formally received the precepts through a Zen lineage.