2015 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science presented to Elisa L. Newport Ph.D.

Elissa Newport has fundamentally altered how we look at language and its acquisition. Her research program focuses on how language is learned and the relation between language learning and linguistic structure. What is particularly unique about Professor Newport is the innovative, and deeply programmatic, way in which she goes about exploring these issues. Newport has reframed the field of language acquisition so that the apparently magical way in which children go about learning the highly complex system that underlies language can be analyzed and understood. Her work demonstrates that language learning can be systematically studied in a theoretically guided way at both behavioral and biological levels. Furthermore, her new work delving into brain reorganization following stroke holds promise to move beyond the lab into practice.