A scholar of creativity, intelligence, and education policy, he is the author of over 200 papers and author or editor of four books: Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education with Carolyn Callahan (1st and 2nd editions), Essentials of Creativity Assessment with James Kaufman and John Baer, and Intelligence 101 with Amber Esping.
Plucker has also led the development of a popular web site on human intelligence.
After briefly serving as an elementary school teacher, he attended the University of Virginia, where he received his doctorate in educational psychology in 1995.
For his creativity work, he has received the Daniel E. Berlyne Award for outstanding research by a junior scholar (2001) and the Rudolf Arnheim Award for outstanding research by a senior scholar (2012) from Division 10 of the American Psychological Association, and the 2007 E. Paul Torrance Award for creativity research from the National Association of Gifted Children.
Plucker is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (2009) and was named a Fellow of the American Associate for the Advancement of Science in 2011 "for distinguished contributions to the science of creativity and the creation of research-supported education policy."