On August 26th of 2003 Associate Professor of Psychology Sal Soraci lost his four year long battle with lymphoma and leukemia. On that day Tufts University lost one of its finest scientists and teachers.
Sal was born in Yonkers, New York on April 30, 1952. He went to high school in New York at Fordham Prep. He then went to the
University of Florida for his undergraduate
education. At Florida he majored in Psychology but explored many other disciplines as well. Throughout his life he maintained the strong interest in the Arts and Humanities that developed
while he was a college student. In addition, he particularly enjoyed his coursework in
anthropology. The evolutionary perspective and understanding of how physiology constrains
performance that he learned from this study shaped his future contributions to psychology. After
graduating from the University of Florida in 1974, summa cum laude and as a member of Phi
Beta Kappa, Sal began graduate school at Vanderbilt University. There he studied Cognitive
Psychology primarily under the guidance of John Bransford and Jeffery Franks. While a graduate
student at Vanderbilt, he was awarded a number of scholarships and fellowships. Sal's
dissertation focused on understanding the mechanisms behind the generation effect, finding that
memory is better for information that is self-produced than for that provided by a teacher or
experimenter. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1982, Sal expanded his work on the conditions that
can optimize learning and memory and began to study learning processes in individuals with
mental retardation. His work on relational learning not only advanced knowledge regarding the
nature of mental retardation, but also aided the development of interventions to maximize the
learning potential of individuals with mild mental retardation. Sal’s research was soon supported
by a series of grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
beginning with a New Investigator Research Award in 1985. He gained an appointment as a
Research Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University and from 1991-1992 was an Associate
Professor at the University of Alabama.
In 1993 Sal was a Senior Research Scientist at Vanderbilt and had a prestigious Research
Career Development Award from NIH. He had also recently applied for a position as an
Assistant Professor in Psychology at Tufts University. A number of the members of our
Department had reservations about hiring Sal for the position. They were impressed by his
excellent reputation as a researcher and scholar in human cognition, but this opening was to help
fill the gap in our Department left by the retirement of Prof. Philip Sampson. Phil, along with
Prof. John Kreifeldt from the College of Engineering, had developed a joint undergraduate major
in Engineering Psychology and we were looking for someone with a background in Human
Factors to replace him. Human Factors takes into account a Psychologist’s knowledge of human
behavior and abilities when designing equipment and procedures in the work environment, and
was not really Sal’s field of expertise. In addition, Sal’s transferable Career Development Award
provided his full salary and stipulated a complete release from teaching responsibilities.
Nonetheless, Sal’s enthusiasm for coming to Tufts University and willingness to help with the
Engineering Psychology program won us over. Once here he put a great deal of effort into
continuing the development of the Engineering Psychology major. He helped expand the course
offerings and he found contacts in industry where students could do internships and find jobs.
His students appreciated the attention he gave to their education, his ability to communicate his
love of Psychology, and his willingness to involve them in his research program. At the same
time that he was shepherding the Engineering Psychology major, his research in cognition
continued and broadened at Tufts and at the Eunice K. Shriver Center for Mental Retardation in
Waltham where he had an appointment as a Research Scientist. Sal was promoted to Associate
Professor in 1999 and by the time of his death had published more than 50 research articles, book
chapters, and, along with his wife, edited a book on visual information processing. At that time
he was also the Principle Investigator or Co-PI on four concurrent grants from NIH.
Sal was also a dedicated teacher and mentor to many graduate students at Vanderbilt and
at Tufts. He was extremely generous with his time and he encouraged all of his students to ask
speculative questions about human behavior, and to design innovative experiments. He did this
in the classroom, in his office and lab, and by exemplifying intellectual curiosity in all
Departmental colloquia and at conferences. Sal’s enthusiasm for the pursuit of knowledge was
unrelenting, and remarkably infectious.
Despite his outstanding achievements in science, Sal's greatest contributions were to his
family and to each of us in our interactions with him. His dedication to his family and pride in
their achievements was evident in his actions and conversation on a daily basis. His devotion to
and love for his wife, Kimi, and his son, Kanade, was central in his life. To friends, colleagues,
and students, his humor and energy were infectious and brightened even the worst of days. His
remarkable ability to accentuate the positive and find "links" between ideas and people endeared
him to all who had the opportunity and privilege to know him. His wide interests in music,
philosophy, politics, science, entertainment, and education reflected the diversity of his thoughts
and his simple enjoyment of learning, discussing, and debating issues. His easy-going nature is
perhaps best exemplified in the daily "coffee runs" that he had with students, colleagues, and
friends during which he would discuss his varied interests in an informal, open, and humorous context. It was nearly impossible to conclude a conversation with Sal without a smile on your face. Sal will be greatly missed, but his positive effect on our lives will be lasting.
Respectfully submitted,
Prof. Joseph F. DeBold, Chair
Lecturer Michael Carlin
Prof. Richard A. Chechile
Reprinted with permission
