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.”
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.
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.