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Dr. John T. Bruer
Philosophy
B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1971
B.Phil., Oxford University, 1974
Ph.D., Rockefeller University, 1978 |
John T. Bruer was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and earned his B.A. in Philosophy from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. He attended Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar, earning a
B. Phil. in Philosophy and then received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Rockefeller University.
His research interests include cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, education, and
history and philosophy of science. Bruer is currently President of the James S McDonnell
Foundation in St. Louis, Missouri.
After receiving his Ph.D in 1978, Bruer worked as a program officer as the Rockefeller
Foundation and the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. At those foundations, he implemented and
administered programs in tropical disease research, epidemiology, medical informatics, and
applications of cognitive science to medical problem solving. Since joining the McDonnell
Foundation in 1986, the foundation has initiated new programs in cognitive neuroscience,
applications of cognitive science to education and rehabilitation, analysis of complex systems,
and cancer biology. He is an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Washington University and serves
on numerous advisory panels nationally and internationally.
He is the author of Schools for Thought: A Science of Learning in the Classroom
(MIT Press, 1993), which won the 1993 Quality in Educational Standards Award from the American
Federation of Teachers and the 1994 Charles S. Grawemeyer Award in Education. His book The
Myth of the First Three Years (Free Press, 1999) was named the Outstanding Book in
Developmental Psychology by the American Psychological Association in 2000. He has co-edited
three other books and authored or co-authored over 50 scholarly and popular articles.
Bruer was appointed to the National Science Board in 2006 and chairs the Education and Human
Resources Committee.
August 2008
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