Lamb, Michael E.

The Scope of Lamb's Contributions

Michael Lamb was born in Lusaka, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). In 1972, he received a BA degree from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa, and in 1974, he earned the first of three master's degrees, graduating from Johns Hopkins University with a master's of arts degree. In 1975, he completed a master's of science and a master's of philosophy, both from Yale University. He was awarded a PhD in psychology from Yale University in 1976, although he actually completed all requirements for the degree in October 1975. He also holds a doctorate from the University of Goteborg, Sweden, awarded in 1995.

Lamb's first professorial position was at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served from 1976 to 1978. He then moved to the University of Michigan (from 1978 to 1980) and to the University of Utah, where, from 1980 to 1987, he was professor of psychology, psychiatry, and pediatrics. In 1987, he entered into his current position, in the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, where he is senior research scientist and chief of the section on social and emotional development. Attesting to his worldwide acclaim as a developmental scientist of the highest rank, Lamb has also been a visiting professor at the University of Haifa, Israel (1981); the University of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan (1985); the University of Osnabrück, Germany (1995); and Martin-Luther University of Halle Wittenberg, Germany (1996). Currently, Lamb also holds research or adjunct professorial appointments at major universities across the United States: the University of Virginia, the Pennsylvania State University, University of Maryland (Baltimore County), University of Maryland (College Park), University of Utah, and Catholic University of America.

The eminence and influence of Michael Lamb has grown with the publication of more than 490 scientific contributions across his career, including more than 30 edited or authored books. Given this singular record of high-quality productivity across three decades, it is not surprising that Lamb has been the recipient of numerous honors by colleagues across the scientific community. For instance, in 1976, he was given the Young Psychologist Award by the American Psychological Association, and, in 1978, he was the recipient of the Boyd R. McCandless Young Scientist Award from Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. In 1986, he was given the Distinguished Scientist Award from [Page 628]the University of Utah. This is the highest possible award from this institution. In 1987, he was accorded the Distinguished Speaker Award from the American Family Therapy Association, and in 2003, the American Psychological Society awarded him the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award. Moreover, he has been appointed to the editorial boards of more than 20 scientific journals; and in the period between receiving his doctorate and entering service within the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (a span of 11 years), he was the recipient of several million dollars of awards from national and international funders in support of grant proposals for more than 35 different scholarly projects.

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