Gerhard Fischer (professor)

Gerhard Fischer
Gerhard Fischer at CU Boulder
Nationality	German and American
Alma mater	University of Hamburg University of Heidelberg
Awards	CHI Academy, ACM Fellow, RIGO Award (SIGDOC), Honorary PhD (University of Gothenburg)
Scientific career
Fields	Human-Centered Computing Learning Sciences
Institutions	University of Colorado, Boulder
Doctoral advisor
Other academic advisors	Herbert A. Simon (Habilitation Advisor)
Doctoral students	Stefan Carmien Melissa Dawe Rogerio dePaula Holger Dick Andreas Girgensohn Scott Henninger Andreas Lemke Stefanie Lindstaedt Thomas Mastaglio Kumiyo Nakakoji Jonathan Ostwald David Redmiles Brent Reeves Eric Scharff Frank Shipman Gerry Stahl Curt Stevens James Sullivan Tamara Sumner Yunwen Ye

Gerhard Fischer (born 1945) is German-born computer scientist, Professor of Computer Science, a Fellow of the Institute of Cognitive Science, and the founder and director of the Center for LifeLong Learning & Design (L3D) at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In 1971 he graduated with a Masters (Mathematics and Physical Education) from the University of Heidelberg. With a fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), he spent the following two years at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and the University of California, Irvine. He obtained a PhD from the University of Hamburg in Computer Science (1977), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT, Cambridge, (working with Seymour Papert and the LOGO community) and Xerox Parc (working with Alan Kay and the Smalltalk community).

From 1978 to 1984 he served as an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Stuttgart. During these six years, he spent several extended visits at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh to study with Herbert A. Simon who served as the primary advisor for his “Habilitation” degree that he obtained in 1983 from the University of Stuttgart. In 1984 he accepted a position in the Computer Science Department of the University of Colorado, Boulder combined with being a Fellow of the Institute of Cognitive Science. During the years at CU Boulder, he spent sabbatical years at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany (1994-1995) and at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (2002-2003).

He was awarded a "Chair of Excellence" at the Charles III University of Madrid (UC3M), Spain and he spent 6 months in 2012 and 2013 as a visiting professor at UC3M. He obtained a fellowship from the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) an Advanced Study Institute in Delmenhorst, Germany and he spent 6 months in 2014 and 2015 at the HWK as a fellow.

In his early work at the University of Stuttgart, he explored theoretical frameworks and system developments for Human-Computer Interaction and co-founded conferences in Germany on “Mensch-Maschine Kommunikation” (1980) and “Software Ergonomics” (1983). Later work at CU Boulder was centered on domain-oriented design environments, critiquing systems, and the exploration of high-functionality environments.