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Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an innovative and promising neuroimaging modality for studying brain activity in real-world environments. While fNIRS has seen rapid advancements in hardware, software, and research applications since its emergence nearly 30 years ago, limitations still exist regarding all three areas, where existing practices contribute to greater bias within the neuroscience research community. We spotlight fNIRS through the lens of different end-application users, including the unique perspective of a fNIRS manufacturer, and report the challenges of using this technology across several research disciplines and populations. Through the review of different research domains where fNIRS is utilized, we identify and address the presence of bias, specifically due to the restraints of current fNIRS technology, limited diversity among sample populations, and the societal prejudice that infiltrates today's research. Finally, we provide resources for minimizing bias in neuroscience research and an application agenda for the future use of fNIRS that is equitable, diverse, and inclusive.

While many team meetings in schools are ad hoc and vary from school to school and practitioner to practitioner, Individualized Education Program (IEP) team membership and meetings are a requirement for most school psychologists. As mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), the IEP team must consist of a parent, a special education provider, a general education provider, an individual capable of interpreting evaluation results (typically the school psychologist), and a local education agency (LEA) representative who is knowledgeable regarding the general curriculum and is authorized to commit school resources (typically the school principal or assistant principal). The purpose of this article is to summarize common challenges and areas of need as described in research on IEP team meetings and provide a research-informed framework for improving IEP team meetings. Recommendations that draw from (1) the research on parent perceptions of IEP team meetings and (2) research on meeting effectiveness from the field of industrial/organizational psychology are provided in order to improve IEP team meetings. Although the research on meeting effectiveness has focused largely on meetings within the corporate world, there are a number of findings that can be applied to school meetings to increase collaboration, productivity, and efficiency. After discussion of both literature bases, a model designed to make the IEP team meeting a more positive, effective, and collaborative experience is presented.