Robert Hausmann

When I was in grade school, I grew up less than a mile from my best friend. His dad, Jack Mynatt, was a Professor of Psychology at the local university, Bowling Green State University (BGSU). He introduced me to some crazy, fascinating ideas. Given his influence, when it was time to declare a major in college, I settled on Psychology. While studying Psychology at BGSU, I met Jack’s friend, Ryan Tweney, who got me really interested in the cognitive processes involved in scientific discoveries. While doing research for his class, I hit upon the article from the Expertise chapter. This article was so amazing that I emailed the lead author, Micki Chi, and asked if she was taking grad students. As luck would have it, she was! So I enrolled in the Cognitive Psychology PhD program at the University of Pittsburgh.

Micki’s lab, including my office, was in the Learning Research and Development Center, which put me in touch with all sorts of inspiring people, including Dr. Robert Glaser. He is the person we met at the beginning of the book who believed that education should inform cognitive theories, and vice versa. After I finished my dissertation, I met Steve Ritter, a co-founder of a company, Carnegie Learning, that sells computer tutors for math. While working for Carnegie Learning, my interactions with a great mix of educators and scientists ultimately inspired me to write this book.