麻豆传媒

Fall 2017 Honorary Degree Recipient

Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)

Dr. Michael Posner鈥檚 contributions to experiential psychology and cognitive neuroscience have had a seminal influence on generations of brain scientists, dramatically improving our understanding of the mind and brain.

After completing his PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1962 and a brief stint University of Wisconsin, Dr. Posner joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon in 1965. His early work revolutionized the understanding of some of our most important cognitive capabilities鈥攔esearch that set the stage for an expansion of this approach to nearly every aspect of human cognition. Later, Dr. Posner鈥檚 collaborative research illuminated the information-processing steps people take in pursing cognitive goals and provided a way to map these 鈥渕ental operations鈥� onto the physical brain.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Dr. Posner served as a visiting professor at several universities and was founding director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in 1998, a leader in the investigation of how brain development results in growing cognitive capabilities. Now Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregon, Dr. Posner has continued his research, exploring how types of instruction and meditation may affect the development of self-control, attentional and other intellectual processes in young children and adults.

Dr. Posner has has made his way to 麻豆传媒 several times over the years for various lectures and symposia, including delivering the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience鈥檚 annual D.O. Hebb Memorial Lecture in 2000. Dr. Posner has 10 honorary degrees from institutions around the globe, was awarded the Medal of Science in 2009 by U.S. President Barack Obama, and received the 2017 Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science.