Our Story

After decades of work in classrooms, on athletic fields, and with organizations, Dave and Ron launched the MindScience Playbook Podcast in 2025. Their goal is to bring brain science into the conversations most people are already having about leadership, coaching, teams, and everyday life. Not in an academic way. In a real, practical, human way. The kind of conversation you’d want to be a part of.

That’s what the MindScience Playbook is. Thirty-plus years of curiosity, research, and real-world experience in coaching, teaching and leading, showing up in every episode to help you understand yourself and the people around you a little better. 

A 30+ Year Partnership

Dave and Ron’s partnership began over 30+ years ago when they crossed paths at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a mutual interest in improving science education and providing teachers the opportunity to learn, grow, and work together. From different perspectives and different contexts, they have had a mutual interest in studying what makes people tick, why they do what they do, and what happens in the brain when they do it. They aren’t just colleagues with overlapping interests. They are two people who have been circling the same idea from different directions their whole careers.

What started as a research collaboration grew into something much bigger. For over 30 years they have worked together on everything from helping K-12 teachers connect with university scientists, to using behavioral assessments to help college students work better on teams, to developing processes to help researchers work together more effectively, to taking those same concepts onto the soccer field to help coaches understand their players in a whole new way. Along the way they secured millions in research funding, published extensively, and developed frameworks for collaboration that have been used across academic, business, and athletic organizations.

A foundational theme of their work is that understanding how your brain works and how people learn is fundamental to knowing yourself and being an effective coach, teacher, leader, and collaborator.

Two men sitting at a table engaged in conversation, one wearing a gray shirt and glasses, the other in a black suit with a red tie, smiling.
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  • “Ron has spent a career building bridges: between education and behavior, behavior and assessment, assessment and neuroscience, data and meaning, and ultimately between science and self-understanding.”

  • “Coach Dave is a man of integrity who approached coaching with balance, purpose, and unwavering commitment. He cared deeply about the whole athlete, intentionally developing young women as both competitors and leaders.”

    — School Administrator

  • “Ron’s scholarship reflects the mind of a lifelong learner: willing to question established assumptions, cross disciplinary boundaries, and search for measurable evidence behind human experience.”

  • “I’m very appreciative of Dave’s innovative mindset, his commitment to sustainability, and his commitment to his students. And I know he'll continue to be a force for good in the next stage of his career.”

    — Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Lincoln

  • “Ron approaches the platform much as he approached the classroom: the objective is not simply to transfer information, but to change the way people think about themselves and others.”

  • “Throughout my time at UNL, it is truly rare to find someone who cares as deeply as Dave does about his students' success. His genuine dedication to getting to know us and providing the best possible support has left a lasting impression on countless people.”

    — Former Student

  • “The connecting thread across Ron’s career is curiosity: the conviction that there is always another question worth asking.”