Dr. Irene Pepperberg, Ph.D., FAAS, FAPS, FAPA, FABS is founder and president of The Alex Foundation. She is also Research Associate, Harvard University and Adjunct Associate Professor, Brandeis University.
  
 Irene is a scientist noted for her studies in animal cognition, particularly in relation to parrots. She is well known for her comparative studies into the cognitive fundamentals of language and communication, and was one of the first to try to extend work on language learning in animals other than humans (exemplified by the Washoe Project) to a bird species. She is also active in wildlife conservation, especially in relation to parrots.
  
 Although parrots have long been known for their capacities in vocal mimicry, Irene set out to show that their vocal behavior could have the characteristics of human language. She worked intensively with a single African Grey Parrot, Alex, and reported that he acquired a large vocabulary and used it in a sophisticated way, which is often described as similar to that of a two year old child.
  
 Irene and her colleagues have sought to show that Alex can differentiate meaning and syntax, so that his use of vocal communication is unlike the relatively inflexible forms of "instinctive" communication that are widespread in the animal kingdom. Although such results are always likely to be controversial, and working intensively with a single animal always incurs the risk of Clever Hans effects, her work has strengthened the argument that humans do not hold the monopoly on the complex or semicomplex use of abstract communication.
  
 Some researchers believe that the training method that Irene used with Alex, (called the model-rival technique) holds promise for teaching autistic and other learning-disabled children who have difficulty learning language, numerical concepts and empathy. When some autistic children were taught using the same methods Irene devised to teach parrots, their response exceeded expectations.
  
 From work with the single subject Alex, Irene and her colleagues have gone on to study additional African Grey Parrots, and also parrots of other species. A final evaluation of the importance of her work will probably depend on the success of these attempts to generalize it to other individuals.
  
 She authored The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots, Lessons from cognitive ethology: Animal models for ethological computing, and Vocal learning in grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus): effects of social interaction, reference, and context, coauthored Lack of referential vocal learning from LCD video by Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus), Development of Piagetian object permanence in a Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), and Number comprehension by a grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), including a zero-like concept, and coedited Animal Cognition in Nature: The Convergence of Psychology and Biology in Laboratory and Field.
  
 Her awards include the Frank A. Beach Comparative Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association in 2006, Bunting Fellow, Radcliffe Institute in 2004, Fellow, AAAS in 2001, Selby Fellow, Australian Academy of Sciences in 2000, Fellow, American Psychological Society in 1999, Fellow, American Ornithologists' Union in 1998, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996, Fellow, American Psychological Association in 1996, and Fellow, Animal Behavior Society in 1994.
  
 Irene earned her B.S. in Chemistry at MIT in 1969, her M.A. in Chemistry at Harvard in 1971 and her Ph.D. in Chemical Physics at Harvard in 1976