Robert Glaser (center), University Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Founding Director Emeritus of Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center, with Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg (left) and Provost James V. Maher during the May 23 reception in Glaser’s honor.

Pity the student or postdoc who, walking the halls or riding the elevator in Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) at the end of another demanding day, would encounter LRDC cofounder Robert Glaser.

Focusing intently on the individual, Glaser invariably would ask: “So, what have you learned today?”

“It was a question that struck terror into your heart, because you knew Bob expected a good answer,” recalled Leona Schauble, a postdoctoral fellow in LRDC from 1987 to 1989, during a May 23 reception honoring Glaser for his teaching, mentoring, administrative work, and landmark research in the science of learning.

“Bob never offered casual praise, but you never doubted he was absolutely on your side,” said Schauble, who today is professor and chair in Vanderbilt University’s Department of Teaching.

During the reception, held in the William Pitt Union’s lower lounge, Schauble and other colleagues and former students of Glaser’s paid tribute to his generosity, curiosity, collegiality, integrity, work ethic, and mischievous sense of humor. (One former doctoral student laughingly recalled arriving with Glaser in Amsterdam for a conference during the early 1970s. Upon exiting the train station, Glaser casually suggested they go for a walk. Glaser proceeded to lead the young man, who had never been to Europe before, on a culture-shock-inducing stroll through the city’s red-light district.)

In 1963, when Glaser cofounded LRDC, it was among the first interdisciplinary centers in the emerging field of fundamental learning studies. “Today, it is one of the most respected centers of its type in the world,” Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg noted during the reception honoring Glaser. “Its collective work product has had a profound impact on our understandings of learning, has broadly influenced approaches to education, and has played a key role in the growth and development of society.”

The author or editor of more than 20 books and 200 articles, Glaser has served as president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the National Academy of Education. His numerous awards have included the AERA’s Award for Distinguished Research and Presidential Citation Award, the Educational Testing Service Award for Distinguished Service to Measurement, and honorary doctoral degrees from universities in five countries. His Pitt honors include the Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award.

Reception attendees agreed on Glaser’s status as “an academic giant in our midst,” as Nordenberg described him.

But no one knew exactly what to call the event itself, apart from a well-deserved tribute.

Nordenberg wryly acknowledged there was “good reason for some confusion,” given that it wasn’t technically a retire-ment reception. Glaser officially retired years ago. His current title is University Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Founding Director Emeritus of LRDC.

Also, Glaser doesn’t intend to quit working.

“I don’t call it ‘work,’ I call it my ‘hobby,’” Glaser said during an interview recently in his North Bellefield Avenue apartment, which also serves as his off-campus workplace; its balcony offers a panoramic view of the Pittsburgh campus, including the LRDC Building. “I keep up a couple of [external research] grants. I go into my Pitt office every weekday for at least half a day, and I attend seminars here and at Carnegie Mellon University.

“I had a physical exam last week,” he added, the trademark Glaser twinkle in his eyes. “My doctor asked if anything was wrong with me. I said, ‘I seem to have developed this disease called aging… .’”

Declining to reveal his age (at least not for publication) for fear of being thought less vital than he feels, Glaser suggested: “Let’s say I’m reaching 80, but I’d prefer not to say from which side I’m reaching it.”

An alternative measurement of Glaser’s longevity is how far the science of learning has come—thanks, substantially, to his own frequently cited research—since he cofounded LRDC. (The center has been directed for the last 30 years by Lauren B. Resnick, University Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science.)

“Back [in the 1960s], behaviorism was still very dominant,” he noted. “Since then, we’ve seen the development of cognitive psychology, which is more concerned with the science of thinking and problem-solving. We’ve gotten more into examining the cognitive processes of learning rather than doing the kind of experiments in reinforcement that B.F. Skinner used to do.”

One of Glaser’s research specialties has been the study of how people become experts. “At the time LRDC was founded, the notion of expertise wasn’t understood very well. Learning was being studied, but not the question of how and why some people go from being novices to experts in given fields,” he pointed out.

“For a long time, an accepted theory was that people who were very good at what they did simply had better memories. But studies of chess players, for example, revealed that not only could they remember entire games they had played, but when they looked at a chess board they saw a whole configuration of pieces that were meaningless to a novice. A novice sees surface features of a problem, while an expert sees a highly patterned organization in the problems they’re presented with.”

The capacity for self-monitoring also increases as a person gains expertise, Glaser’s research found. “As you get better at your work, you develop a greater ability to observe your own performance and correct or reinforce what you’re doing,” he said. “Novices concentrate much more on doing their jobs rather than observing how well they’re doing them.”

Building a center based on inter-disciplinary research was a daunting challenge four decades ago, according to Glaser. “Interdisciplinary people are becoming increasingly prevalent today,” he said. “If you’re a cross between a physicist and a chemist or you’re a sociologist who is also accomplished in anthropology, that’s all to the good. But back in the 1960s, being interdisciplinary was harder to do. What got you ahead in your field was doing research in your field, period.”

Especially among psychologists, research on education was “a dirty word,” Glaser observed—education and psychology having parted ways when psychology turned to natural-science methods to prove itself, and education went on to flex its muscles as a separate profession, he said.

But Glaser found that once he lured psychologists, physicists, and researchers from other fields into examining how the science of learning related to their disciplines, they became intrigued, then hooked.

In addition to promoting interdisciplinary research here, Glaser was a pioneer in getting scholars from Pitt and Carnegie Mellon to work together, said David Klahr, a professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Psychology. In contrast to today, when joint ventures are common between the neighboring universities, such collaborations were “anathema” during the 1960s and ’70s, Klahr recalled during last week’s reception for Glaser.

As a researcher who’s devoted his career to learning how people learn, does Glaser have any advice for keeping intellectually fit?

“Oh, well…” he pondered. “I suppose you keep sharp by continuing to work on problems that intrigue you. That, and going to the gym.” Glaser said he works out three times a week at the nearby Pittsburgh Athletic Association with a personal trainer.

“The part I hate,” he confided, “is when [the trainer] makes me sit on a big green ball, balancing myself while lifting weights. That’s really hard work, but it’s good for what I call my M&M—mind and morale.”