Professor Diane Halpern, past president of the American Psychological Association and director of the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children at CMC, will participate in the panel discussion Women in Science: Are They Being Held Back? scheduled Thursday, April 14 at The Cooper Union in New York.
The discussion, featuring six leaders in the scientific community and major researchers who investigate the physiological and psychological factors that influence intellectual performance, also will include keynote remarks from Cornelia Dean, former science editor of The New York Times.
The event launches the 2005 First Light Festival, sponsored by the EST/Sloan Project in partnership with the Women Investigators Network at the New York Academy of Sciences, and, according to organizers, was conceived in response to reactions surrounding recent comments by Harvard President Lawrence Summers on women in math and science.
Halpern is the author of several books and hundreds of journal articles including: Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, and Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking (1996). She is the recipient of numerous teaching awards including the 2000 Wang Family Excellence Award, the 1999 American Psychological Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, the 1996 Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training Award from the American Psychological Association, and the 1986 California State University's State-wide Outstanding Professor Award.