2 IU Bloomington professors elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Two Indiana University Bloomington faculty members — Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver and Curtis M. Lively — have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest and most prestigious honorary societies in the United States.

Hmelo-Silver is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Education, the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology, director of the Center for Research on Learning and Technology, and a professor of learning sciences. Lively is a Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology.

“Professors Hmelo-Silver and Lively are among the world’s most exceptional scholars and thought leaders in their respective fields, and their selection for membership into one of the most prestigious honorary societies showcases their remarkable achievements,” IU President Pamela Whitten said. “We congratulate them on this tremendous honor and celebrate their contributions to IU, Indiana and the world.”

Cindy Hmelo-Silver. Photo courtesy of the School of EducationHmelo-Silver and Lively were among nearly 270 new members elected to the academy’s ranks in the 2023 class that was announced April 19. The class includes new members drawn from academia, the arts, industry, policy, research and science. Hmelo-Silver was elected in the education section of social and behavioral sciences, and Lively was elected in the evolution and ecology section of biological sciences.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1780, includes more than 250 Nobel and Pulitzer prize winners. It represents and honors innovative thinkers across fields and professions who examine new ideas, address important issues and advance the public good.

Hmelo-Silver’s research focuses on how people learn about complex phenomena and how technology can support that learning. She studies problem-based learning and collaborative inquiry, collaborative knowledge construction and computer-supported collaborative learning. She also studies the role of technology to support social knowledge construction and collaborative learning and problem-solving.

Her scholarship has bridged K-12 and higher education communities, providing them a process for implementing problem-based learning strategies in a variety of instructional settings with applications across many disciplines.

Curtis Lively. Photo courtesy of the Department of BiologyShe is the co-principal investigator on the National Science Foundation’s AI Institute for Engaged Learning. She is the education lead on a team that will advance natural language processing, computer vision and machine learning by conducting research on narrative-centered learning technologies, embodied conversational agents and multi-model learning analytics to create deeply engaging, collaborative, story-based learning experiences.

Lively has studied the possible advantages of cross-fertilization and the production of genetically diverse offspring. The Lively Lab also studies topics in evolutionary and behavioral ecology, including host-parasite coevolution, mate choice and the evolution of parasite virulence.

He received the Indiana University Trustees’ Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2002 and 2011 and was elected an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2007.