The career of Dr. Bruce McCandliss, a psychologist at the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology and associate professor of psychology in psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, is relatively young but already quite distinguished.
He is a highly productive, highly published scientist who has received several awards and honors for his professional breakthroughs. However, his most recent prize may be his greatest yet.
At a White House ceremony earlier last month, Dr. McCandliss received a commendation from the President of the United States in the form of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government upon outstanding scientists and engineers in the early part of their independent research careers.
The award recognizes Dr. McCandliss' research into the biological basis for language development and dysfunction in developmental disorders such as dyslexia.
Dr. McCandliss says that he is hopeful that this form of national recognition will help raise awareness of the importance of basic research on brain development and brain changes in learning so that it may improve education and remediation efforts.
Dr. McCandliss, along with educational researcher Isabel Beck, started Reading Works, a program that uses computer technology to teach reading skills based on insights from cognitive neuroscience research. The program aids New York City public school students who struggle with basic reading skills.
Dr. Bruce McCandliss (left) and Elias A. Zerhouni, director of the NIH.
Having earned his B.S. degree in psychology with honors in 1989 from Michigan State University, Dr. McCandliss went on to earn his doctorate in cognitive psychology from the University of Oregon in 1997. Dr. McCandliss began his work at the Sackler Institute in 1999 having come from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, where he served as a postdoctoral research scientist at the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition as well as the director of the Learning Research and Development Center Reading Institute.
"Bruce McCandliss is notable not only for his intelligence and hard work, but for his deep concern for people who have difficulties with attention and language," said Dr. Michael Posner, a professor of psychology in psychiatry at the Sackler Institute, and one of Dr. McCandliss' mentors. "He wants to make a difference in the lives of children and his research gives every promise that he will succeed in doing just that. He is also a wonderful colleague and teacher with an admirable willingness to share his skills with others."
The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers was established in 1996 and honors the most promising researchers in the nation within their fields.
Dr. McCandliss was the sole nominee for this award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and one of only 12 scientists selected across all branches of the National Institutes for Health. Nationwide, a total of 56 awards were granted, representing nine government agencies spanning all fields of science and engineering.