For Contributions to the Theoretical Foundations of Human Cognition

Overview

The David E. Rumelhart Prize is awarded annually to an individual or collaborative team making a significant contemporary contribution to the theoretical foundations of human cognition. Contributions may be formal in nature: mathematical modeling of human cognitive processes, formal analysis of language and other products of human cognitive activity, and computational analyses of human cognition using symbolic or non-symbolic frameworks all fall within the scope of the award.

The David E. Rumelhart Prize is funded by the Robert J. Glushko and Pamela Samuelson Foundation. Robert J. Glushko received a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 1979 under Rumelhart’s supervision. He is an Adjunct Full Professor at the School of Information (I-School) at the University of California, Berkeley.

The prize consists of a hand-crafted, custom bronze medal, a certificate, a citation of the awardee’s contribution, and a monetary award of $100,000.

The 2013 David E. Rumelhart Prize Recipient

The recipient of the thirteenth David E. Rumelhart Prize is Linda Smith, one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists. Her research has focused on developmental process and mechanisms of change especially as they relate to early word learning. Dr. Smith is a Chancellor’s Professor and Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Science, and of Cognitive Science, at Indiana University – Bloomington. She received her B.S from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) in 1973 and her Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977, and joined the faculty at Indiana in 1977. She is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the American Psychological Society, the Cognitive Science Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.