16: Robert A. Bjork & Elizabeth L. Bjork, Ph.D. – Dynamic Duo and Pillars of Cognitive Research in Psychological Science

Masters in Psychology Podcast

Drs. Elizabeth and Robert Bjork have enjoyed long, illustrious careers as cognitive researchers in psychology and have been with the UCLA Department of Psychology for over 45 years. They have received multiple awards and recognitions for their research, teaching, mentorship, and leadership within the field of psychology. To say they have had a profound impact on psychology would be an understatement. In this podcast interview, Drs. Robert and Elizabeth Bjork reminisce about their professional and personal journeys over the past 50+ years in hopes that their experiences and advice inspire those interested in the field of psychology and motivate those already in the field. Robert and Elizabeth each grew up in different parts of the United States yet had several things in common even before they met. They both began their academic journey by earning their B.A. in Mathematics – Robert at the University of Minnesota and Elizabeth at the University of Florida. Both were drawn to psychology late in their undergraduate career when they took a course in psychology. When they each started their graduate careers, they gravitated even more toward psychology after finding the research in psychology more interesting than the research being done in physics and math. Robert states “I, like Elizabeth, had just taken a course in psychology very late and I said ‘Well, that looks like a field where there’s a lot to learn and it’s early in its history as opposed to physics,’ and so I switched to psychology, mathematical psychology, in particular.” Another similarity they shared is how and why they each selected their graduate program and school. Elizabeth selected the University of Michigan because her advisor said it had the best psychology program in the country. Robert selected Stanford University because his advisor informed him that it had the best psychology program and that a prominent figure, William (Bill) Estes, was moving to Stanford. As it turns out, at the time, Stanford University was ranked number 1 among all graduate programs in psychology and University of Michigan was ranked number 2. Both of them also ended up working with Bill Estes – Robert at Stanford University and Elizabeth at Rockefeller University. Now, how did they meet? As Dr. Robert Bjork explains, the first time he met Elizabeth was “when she came in to drop my course at the suggestion of her then boyfriend.” She was an advanced graduate student at the time, and he was a new professor. From the moment they started their academic and professional careers, they each blazed a trail and broke through barriers to become respected and revered researchers, mentors, and leaders within the field of psychology. They were among the first couples in the University of California system to hold professorial positions in the same psychology department and in this interview, they discuss some of the challenges associated with being a professional couple working in the same department when nepotism was still prevalent in the academic field. Drs. Robert and Elizabeth Bjork have received many honors and awards in their distinguished careers. In 2016, they both received the James McKeen Catell Fellow Award which is a lifetime achievement award for their research contributions addressing critical problems in society. The Bjorks are also revered and respected mentors and have been recognized for their teaching and mentorship. Recently, they received the 2020 APS Mentor Award for their work as co-directors of the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab as well as their work mentoring others throughout the years. According to the APS article highlighting them for their Mentor Award, of the more than 80 “honors, graduate, and postdoctoral students and scholars the Bjorks have co-mentored at UCLA, a staggering 57 (70 percent) have had successful academic careers in areas related to learning and memory.” Both of the Bjorks have also received Distinguished Teaching Awards,