LEMELSON INSTITUTE
The Lemelson Anthropological Fellows/Scholars Program at UCLA was created through the generous vision and support of Professor Robert B. Lemelson, a psychological anthropologist, documentary filmmaker and distinguished educator. Professor Lemelson has been widely recognized for his progressive philanthropic leadership — much of it at UCLA — most notably through his
The Fellows/Scholars Program grew from Professor Lemelson’s belief that close mentoring relationships and creative, problem-oriented field research skills are of crucial importance in training active and engaged anthropologists. As an undergraduate, Lemelson was fortunate to have a mentor who had a profound early influence on his academic experience and ultimate choice of career. “The mentor relationship helps build identity and shapes you as a scholar,” he said.
He expects that undergraduate and graduate anthropology students selected for the Fellows/Scholars Program will learn how to develop concrete research problems; work in team research settings; conduct cutting-edge anthropological research; and see that research through to completion—all hallmark skills of a successful academic scholar. The Fellows/Scholars Program will fulfill this goal through the development of close mentoring relationships among individual faculty members, individual graduate students and small groups of UCLA undergraduates, who will form collaborative teams to conduct problem-oriented research with a strong field component.
Professor Lemelson has high hopes for the impact of the Fellows/Scholars Program, noting that “it will allow committed scholars to go much deeper into their research and give them opportunities to really explore their vocation as anthropologists.”
Thanks to Professor Lemelson’s visionary philanthropy, UCLA’s anthropology department will provide inspiration and topnotch research skills training for the next generation of research anthropologists, while nurturing the culture of collaboration for which UCLA is renowned.
