The Gelfand Award

Nominations for the 2010 Gelfand Award are now being accepted. Please see the nomination process page for more details.

2009 Gelfand Award Recipients

Linda Flower

Professor, Department of English

Linda Flower’s research began with the problem solving process of experienced and developing writers and the conflict-charged cognition that underlies the construction of negotiated meaning. For ten years a co-director of the National Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy at the University of California, Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon, Professor Flower is a two-time winner of the Richard Braddock Award from the National Council of Teachers of English and recipient of the American Educational Research Association’s Stephen Witte award. She has written eight books that explore problem-solving processes and social-cognitive theories of writing as well as educational support for rival hypothesis thinking and intercultural inquiry. Her arguments for the knowledge-making and knowledge-transforming power of intercultural inquiry have been shaped by 20 years of active educational partnerships with Pittsburgh’s Community House and local schools, documented in a new book, Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Public Engagement. Her courses in engage students in the practice of collaborative, community-based rhetorical action.

Leonard Kisslinger

Professor, Department of Physics

Since 1998, Leonard Kisslinger has led the Carnegie Mellon Physics Concept Program. Middle school students from Pittsburgh Public Schools interact with undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty from the university to study fundamental physics concepts in an effort to provide the children with hands-on experience on how scientific research is carried out. The workshops enable the children to develop experiments to test related hypotheses. The children form solid relationships with college student role models and build self-confidence. The goal is to give the children the expertise that is necessary to compete in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science competition. Dozens of students have competed in the local competition and several have had success at the state science fair as a result of this program. Leonard has persisted to conduct this program for 11 years, frequently changing the targeted schools and working to establish relationships with teachers and administrators as schools close. He also works to secure funding from local foundations to cover the cost of transporting the students to Carnegie Mellon so that they can make use of cutting edge laboratories and equipment.