Laura L. Carstensen is a professor of psychology and founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL). The aim of the SCL is to change the culture of human aging using science and technology. Her specialties include socioemotional selectivity theory, emotional development throughout the life span, the role social relationships play in psychological well-being, and the influence of motivation on cognitive processing in old age. Her research is supported primarily by the National Institute on Aging.

Professor Carstensen has chaired two committees on future directions in research on aging for the National Academy of Sciences. She has also served extensively as a reviewer of research grant applications for the National Institute on Aging and has served as chair of the committee of Science Advisors to the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the American Psychological Society. She has received the Distinguished Career Contributions Award from the Behavioral Science Section of the Gerontological Society of America, the Richard Kalish Award for Innovative Research and Stanford's Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching. In 2003, she was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow.

Professor Carstensen received a B.S. from the University of Rochester and a M.A. and Ph.D. from West Virginia University.