Stephen Kosslyn - Biography

Biography

Kosslyn was born in Southern California, and grew up in the Pacific Palisades. Kosslyn first learned to think empirically at UCLA. As undergraduate he worked in the labs of Barbara Henker, who studied children with autism, and John P. Seward with whom he had his first publication, a study of learning in rats. Kosslyn also spent considerable time talking to Edward Sadalla, who helped him learn how to structure an argument and identify when a creative idea was worth considering. He received a B.A. in psychology from UCLA in 1970.

It was in graduate school at Stanford University that Kosslyn learned how to formulate ways to answer hard scientific problems. As soon as he arrived at Stanford, he discovered that his advisor was resigning so that he could work for the "ecology movement," leaving Kosslyn adrift. He took courses his first quarter and didn't get engaged in research. It was only at the beginning of his second quarter that he met his future advisor, Gordon H. Bower, who would have a huge influence on all aspects of his life. Bower had been a professional baseball player prior to becoming an academic and maintained a very direct, straightforward, and forceful style – and he was extraordinarily bright and a superb critic. In graduate school Kosslyn was also fortunate to share an office with Susan Haviland, who was soon to marry Edward E. Smith. Ed loved to "talk shop" and Kosslyn learned an immense amount from him. Kosslyn received a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford in 1974.

On leaving graduate school, Kosslyn first went to the Johns Hopkins University as an Assistant Professor, specializing in Developmental Psychology. There he met his future wife, with whom he went on to have three children. At the beginning of his third year at Hopkins, Kosslyn received offers from MIT and Harvard, both at the Associate Professor level. He went to Harvard in large part because of an impassioned letter he received from a first-year graduate student, Steven Pinker, who was seeking an advisor. At Harvard, Kosslyn had the privilege of supervising many superb graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and undergraduates.

After 4 years at Harvard, Kosslyn obtained a Research Career Development Award and went to Brandeis University. One year later he went back to Hopkins as a visitor; while there he was granted tenure at Harvard. Kosslyn returned to Harvard in 1983, and after 10 years as "Head Tutor" (running the undergraduate program), became chair of the department, and then became Dean of Social Science.

Kosslyn remained at Harvard until 2011, at which point he returned to Stanford, as director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. After two years, he had developed a strategic plan for how the Center could thrive within its means and was gratified to see that this plan could be implemented without great difficulty. He then accepted an offer to be the Founding Dean of Minerva University, based in San Francisco. Minerva is designed to take full advantage of the science of learning and to distill what is best about bricks-and-mortar universities and web-based content delivery.

Kosslyn has received numerous honors for his research. These include the National Academy of Sciences Initiatives in Research Award, the Prix Jean-Louis Signoret, three honorary doctorates (from the University of Caen, France; the University of Paris-Descartes, France; the University of Bern, Switzerland), a Guggenheim fellowship, and a Cattell Award. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and Academia Rodinensis pro Remediatione (Switzerland).

Kosslyn has three hobbies: playing electric bass guitar, struggling with the French language, and advising members of behaviorally focused startups.