Remembering Professor Klaus A. Miczek
The Tufts Psychology community remembers Klaus A. Miczek, Moses Hunt Professor of Psychology Emeritus, who passed away this summer at the age of 79. In addition to his appointment with the Department of Psychology, he was also a Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Tufts University School of Medicine, was a member of the Pharmacology and Neuroscience Programs at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and served as the longtime Director of the Behavior Core of the Neuroscience Research Center at Tufts.
Klaus Miczek arrived at the Department of Psychology at Tufts in 1979, after completing his initial education in Berlin, Germany, then his PhD in Biopsychology at the University of Chicago, and holding an assistant and then associate professorship at Carnegie-Mellon University. He then began a 45-year truly exemplary career of scholarship, teaching, mentorship, and service at Tufts.
Prof. Miczek was promoted to Professor in 1984 and, since 1994, held faculty appointments at the School of Medicine. His research focused on psychopharmacology concerning brain mechanisms of aggression, anxiety, social stress, and abuse of alcohol and other drugs. He published over 270 research journal articles, more than 50 reviews, and edited 24 volumes on psychopharmacological research.
Prof. Miczek’s involvement in his field was prolific. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Association, and the New York Academy of Sciences, and was also a past president of both the Division of Psycho-pharmacology and the Behavioral Pharmacology Society. He was the 2006 recipient of the Tufts University Distinguished Scholar Award, the 2007 recipient of the Distinguished Scientist Award of the European Behavioral Pharmacology Society, and the 2021 recipient of the Brady-Shuster Award, a top honor in the Division of Psychopharmacology at the American Psychological Association. He served as Principal Investigator on dozens of R01 Research Grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He served on several NIH study sections reviewing grant proposals, and also served as coordinating and principal editor of the journal Psychopharmacology for decades.
Prof. Miczek received numerous other prizes in recognition of his outstanding contributions to his field including the Solvay Duphar Award of the Division of Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse of the American Psychological Association, a MERIT award from NIAAA, and Silver Medals of the Charles University in the Czech Republic. He was also named the Boerhaave Professor at the medical faculty of Leiden University (Netherlands) and twice received the Japan International Science & Technology Fellowship at the University of Tokyo and Tsukuba. In 1997, the president of Germany bestowed the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit on him.
In his decades at Tufts, Prof. Miczek taught dozens of undergraduate and graduate courses in areas such as Neurobiology, Behavioral Neuroscience, Experimental Psychology, and Research Methods in Psychopharmacology.