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Professor Einstein wins national mentor award


Last updated March 24, 2014

By News administrator

Dr. Gil Einstein, a professor of psychology at Furman University, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2014 Mentor Award from the Association for Psychological Science (APS).

Einstein, who has been a member of the Furman faculty for more than 35 years, was honored for his outstanding work mentoring students at the university.  His nomination included letters from 47 former research students who have gone on to pursue careers in the sciences.

“I don’t believe there is a single higher award Gil could receive from the field, and it shows that Furman’s Psychology Department has some of the best faculty in the nation,” said Michael Scullin, Ph.D., a 2007 Furman graduate who is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Neurology at the Emory University School of Medicine.

Einstein is only the fourth recipient of the award from any college or university, and the only one to come from a primarily undergraduate institution.  The other recipients have been from major research universities with Ph.D. programs—University of California-Berkeley, University of Connecticut, and the University of Pennsylvania.

The annual lifetime achievement award was established by the APS Board of Directors to honor members of its discipline who help students and others discover and pursue their career and research goals.  According to Alan Kraut, Executive Director of APS, Einstein is an “inspirational researcher who influences larger groups in the field” and someone “who transforms the careers” of the students he works with.

Einstein will be honored during the opening ceremony of the 2014 APS Annual Convention in San Francisco May 22–25.

Einstein is the William M. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology at Furman.  He joined the faculty in 1977 after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.  In addition to garnering international acclaim for his research about memory, he has published six books and more than 100 chapters and articles, and has collaborated with scientists across the nation and abroad who study memory.

He has also co-authored more than 30 publications with students, and has also collaborated with students on dozens of conference presentations at the national and regional levels. His dedication to research with undergraduates was recognized by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) in 2010 when he was named a CUR Fellow, one of only 12 fellows (from all science disciplines) in the country at that time.

Einstein received Furman’s Annual Meritorious Teaching Award in 1985 and, in 2006, won the Excellence in Teaching Award from the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (SCICU).  In 2013, he received the South Carolina Governor’s Award for Excellence in Science at a Predominantly Undergraduate Institution.

For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.

 

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