Dr. Savoy received his academic training in applied mathematics at MIT (B.S. 1971; M.S. 1975) and experimental psychology at Harvard University (Ph.D. 1980). This period included 10 years of work at Polaroid Corporation’s Vision Research Laboratory, after which he joined the newly formed Rowland Institute for Science, under the direction of the late Edwin Land, in 1981. In 1991 he first learned of the revolutionary work being conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Center, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect changes in neural activity (via the associated hemodynamic changes in blood flow, blood volume, and blood oxygenation). In 1993 Dr. Savoy joined that group and became the Director of Functional MRI Education in 1994. He has conducted fMRI training workshops regularly at the MGH NMR Center 3 or 4 times per year since 1994, attracting more than 1000 researchers from around the world. In addition, he has run similar programs at conferences and at other institutions in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Dr. Savoy’s fMRI-based research interests are wide-ranging, including temporal resolution of fMRI, stereopsis, language, American Sign Language, decision making, and multivariate analysis. Dr. Savoy is collaborating with LSEC on a study of olfactory cues to perception of others' stress.
