The following is a transcript – edited for clarity – of an interview conducted on 30 March 2026 by Portfolio Construction Forum’s US correspondent, Robert Huebscher, with Barbara Oakley, a distinguished professor of engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Barbara is widely known for translating neuroscience into practical insights about how we learn, think, and make decisions. She co-created the globally popular Learning How to Learn short course, one of the largest open online courses. She’s authored some influential books including A Mind for Numbers a...