Linda B. Smith has been awarded the 2019 Norman Anderson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Experimental Psychologists. The award recognizes Dr Smith’s extensive and significant research on human cognitive development, as well as her ongoing career, which has shaped the essential framework of her field.
Dr. Smith is a Distinguished Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University. She first joined the faculty at the university in 1977 as an assistant professor before working her way up to associate professor in 1981, professor in 1985, chancellor’s professor in 1997, and finally distinguished professor in 2007. Her current research focuses on characterizing the statistical dimensions of infant visual experience, an approach that promises to create effective new treatments for childhood developmental disorders such as autism, sensory and motor delays, and language-learning difficulties.
Among her other honors and awards, Dr. Smith was named a recipient of the David E. Rumelhart Prize in Cognitive Science from the Cognitive Science Society in 2013; the Award for Distinguished Scientific Career Contributions from the American Psychological Association in 2013; and Indiana University’s Tracy M. Sonneborn Award in 1997. She was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007.
“It was truly an honor to receive this award, to give a talk before some of the most renowned names in psychology and to hear their thoughtful questions,” Dr. Smith said.
Dr. Smith is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.