Betty S. Lai is an associate professor at Boston College and the author of The Grant Writing Guide (publisher: Princeton University Press). She studies child mental health, and she has published over 70 peer reviewed articles on this topic. Her research as a Principal Investigator has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, among others. These efforts have been recognized with awards from the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Foundation. She is an alumna of the University of Miami.