The Robert M. Gagné Outstanding Student Research Award is an endowed fund that will support the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences in perpetuity by providing funding for the graduate student research awards bestowed by the Council on Research Excellence (CORE).

Outstanding student researchers presenting at the CEHHS Research Showcase, will be selected by the Council on Research Excellence to highlight exceptional student research. Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to be recognized for excellence in the CEHHS Research Showcase and are encouraged to continue the strong research tradition of legendary FSU faculty members like the late Robert Gagné.

To learn more about the Research Showcase or for details on how to attend the March 22, 2024 CEHHS Research Showcase, please follow the link here: Research Showcase.

Read on for more information on the legacy of Dr. Robert M. Gagne:

This Award celebrates the legacy of Robert M. Gagné and his contributions to the field of instructional technology and the research productivity of FSU. Born in 1916 and raised in North Andover, MA. Gagné earned a BA from Yale University in 1937, and his MS and PhD from Brown University in 1939 and 1940, respectively. His first teaching job was at Connecticut College for Women in 1940 before World War II intervened and Gagné enlisted in the US Army, serving in the Aviation Psychology program until 1945.

For 20 years, Gagné worked at two Air Force research laboratories, before returning to academia at Princeton University, where he was Director of Research for the American Institutes of Research in 1962, then on to UC Berkely in 1966 for three years as distinguished professor, before being recruited by to FSU in 1969.

Robert M. Gagné is the only faculty member in the College to have served as President of the American Educational Research Association, the largest education research association in the world. He is one of only four professors in the College’s history to be named the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor, the highest honor the FSU faculty can bestow upon their colleagues. His scholarship elevated the reputation of the Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies program as well as the College and Florida State University. Gagné retired from FSU in 1985, though he continued to write and work for another decade. He passed in 2002.