Presented at the 2015 Commencement Ceremony at Franklin & Marshall College

The Bradley R. Dewey Scholarship Award recognizes the faculty member who best exemplifies "the ideal of the scholar whose research efforts reflect and inspire excellence and enlighten teaching."

Michael Anderson, associate professor of psychology and chair of the Scientific and Philosophical Studies of Mind program, was recently described as "one of the most creative neuroscientists of his generation," and "the world's leading philosopher of neuroscience"— compliments indicative of the interdisciplinary impact cultivated at Franklin & Marshall.

Not surprisingly, Professor Anderson's remarkable intellectual breadth is well grounded in the liberal arts. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale, a B.S. in premedical studies from Notre Dame, and did extensive post-doctoral training at the University of Maryland.

When he came to F&M in 2006, Professor Anderson had already begun his pioneering work with a highly influential paper, "Embodied cognition: A field guide," which has garnered 800 citations and is used in classes around the world. Since then, his scholarship has sparked a new paradigm for understanding mind and brain.

For more than 200 years, scientists have tried to localize specific areas of the brain that serve mental processes such as perception, cognition, speech, and emotion. The first version of this theory — phrenology — faded as science matured, but the concept of localized function gained credibility following Paul Broca's famous discovery in the 1860s that our ability to speak depends on a small area in the left frontal cortex.

With the advent of brain-imaging technology came surprising evidence that the brain exhibits widespread activity during most tasks. Brain areas "known" to serve specific functions are usually activated for many tasks. Broca's area, for example, is involved in fine movements of the hand as well as speech, and other areas "known" to control the fingers are active during mental arithmetic.

In his book, "After Phrenology: Neural Reuse and the Interactive Brain" (MIT Press, 2014), Anderson uses such evidence to outline a new approach to understanding the brain. Using data from thousands of neuroimaging studies, he discovered new forms of neuroplasticity, which help build neural coalitions that flexibly serve multiple functions. Anderson links this plasticity with a deeper account of how organisms evolved increasingly flexible abilities to interact with a complex, unpredictable world. The result is a new account of the mind as biologically grounded on the evolution of complex action.

While at F&M, Professor Anderson has authored more than 100 publications, including a groundbreaking article in the prestigious journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences. The Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences, an elite institute at Stanford University, invited Professor Anderson for a yearlong fellowship, which he spent writing "After Phrenology." That work will soon be featured, along with 15–20 scholarly reviews, in an upcoming issue of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Professor Anderson has mentored numerous students in independent research, with many earning departmental honors and entering prestigious graduate programs. He is renowned for challenging his students to appreciate past insights, and to imagine the possibility of reconfiguring one's perspective and understanding to create new knowledge.

Michael Anderson exemplifies the high ideals advanced by the Dewey Award. The College is delighted to recognize his extraordinary contributions to scholarship and education.

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Citations:

Richard Plepler '81: Doctor of Letters

Robert Kwesi Koomson '97: Doctor of Humane Letters

Sherry Turkle, Ph.D.: Doctor of Science

Lynn Matluck Brooks: Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching

Robert Gray: Socrates Citation

Cecile Zorach: Socrates Citation

Lina Bernstein: Socrates Citation

Christine Alexander: Richard Kneedler Distinguished Service Award