Rochel Gelman

Since 2000 Rochel Gelman has been Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Rutgers University, where she is Co-director of the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Sciences (2002) and a member of the NSF Center for Learning and Teaching and an affiliate of the Graduate School of Education.

Her research in developmental cognitive science works to uncover the ease with which young children acquire intuitive understandings of natural numbers and arithmetic, children's perceptions of separately moveable animate and inanimate objects, children's understanding that outcomes have causes, and how children learn words and conversationally appropriate ways of talking. Gelman is noteworthy for her development of a Science-into-ESL program and preschool exhibit at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia.

Dr. Gelman received her PhD from UCLA with specialization in Developmental Psychology and Learning. She received the Mentor Award (2003) of the American Psychological Association, the Inaugural Fellowship (2002) of the Cognitive Science Society, and she was Norman Anderson Distinguished Speaker (1999) at the University of California, San Diego. She is winner of the 1995 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association (APA), and a William James Fellowship of the American Psychological Society. She serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.