About the author
Dustin Brisson is a professional scientist and educator with extensive experience guiding students toward guiding students toward a meaningful and successful experience in college. Prof. Brisson is a Biology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, teaching both introductory and advanced courses. Additionally, he directs the Evolution and Ecology of Disease Systems Laboratory at UPenn. Prof. Brisson’s scientific research primarily focuses on the Lyme disease system, and he has contributed to nearly 100 peer-reviewed articles. His research work has garnered numerous honors, including election as a fellow of the Burroughs-Wellcome Foundation, recognition as a Pieper Research Fellow and a Pearson Research Fellow, several editorship positions, as well as multiple research grants and awards.
As an educator, Prof. Brisson is committed to addressing challenges that detract from the college experience, including anxiety, social dynamics, navigating campus life, and academic difficulties. He is particularly passionate about the additional complications faced by first-generation, low-income, and under-represented groups in academic settings. As a first-generation, low-income college student himself at Pepperdine University (“Go Waves!”), Prof. Brisson encountered many of the psychological, academic, financial, and social challenges often faced by first-generation, low-income students throughout his college experience. Over the decades he has spent as a college professor, he has extended his awareness and appreciation of the hindrances that negatively impact the well-being of all students through two main types of activities. First, as an educator and mentor, he has taught thousands of students in introductory courses, advised and guided hundreds of undergraduates, and participated in faculty committees and student clubs focused on student well-being. Second, he has dedicated himself to studying psychological and philosophical research related to student well-being.
Prof. Brisson’s book, In Pursuit of the Good Life in College (Bloomsbury, 2025), draws from psychological and philosophical research on student well-being to equip students with the tools needed to achieve academic success while consistently maintaining their well-being. College can be an incredibly rewarding time, but for many students, it often comes with significant anxiety that can overshadow their enjoyment. Prof. Brisson personally encountered the common challenges that negatively impact student well-being and has guided hundreds of students struggling with these issues. His book outlines the psychological and philosophical underpinnings of the anxiety generated by these challenges. It also includes step-by-step guides utilized by hundreds of students at multiple universities to overcome these difficulties and even transform them into opportunities for improved well-being and greater academic success.