Norman Named Allen and Johnnie Breed University Professor

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Donald A. Norman, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been appointed the Allen and Johnnie Breed University Professor.

In addition to his academic experience, Norman has extensive industrial experience. He has been vice president of Apple Computers, an executive at Hewlett-Packard and a design consultant to firms in the U.S. and abroad.

An electrical engineer and a psychologist, Norman is renowned for his substantial contributions to the theory and practice of design.

One of his books, "The Psychology of Everyday Things," has been published in several languages and is now available in paperback. "The Design of Future Things" was published in November. Its subject is the ever-increasing role of automation in homes and automobiles.

Norman has received many awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Computer and Cognitive Science from the Franklin Institute in 2006 and the 2005 Franklin V. Taylor Award for outstanding contributions to the field of applied experimental and engineering psychology.

He is a Fellow of the American Association of Arts and Sciences, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychology Society, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Cognitive Science Society and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

After a long career at the University of California, San Diego, where he chaired the department of psychology and founded the department of cognitive science, he joined the Northwestern faculty in 2001.