Terry Pivik
Dr. (Rudolph) Terry Pivik was a highly respected researcher, mentor and professor in the areas of sleep and dreaming, psychophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, developmental neuroscience, and nutrition. Born in Rock Springs, Wyoming, he started his career where he obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Psychology from the University of Wyoming, focusing on the neurophysiology of sleep and dreaming. In 1966, he was awarded a Bioscience Award to study Physiological Psychology from Stanford University where he received his Ph.D. His work spanned a wide range of mental and physical events associated with sleep and sleep deprivation. As a Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School, Terry continued his work exploring the neurophysiology of sleep; advancing the field in measurement and neural activity. He held academic and research positions in the Departments of Psychiatry, Medicine and Psychology at the University of Chicago and Ottawa; extending the study of neurophysiology and psychophysiology of sleep with children and psychiatric populations. In 2000, he took a position as Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, AR. Since 2007, he held the positions of Director of the Brain Function Laboratory at the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center and a Research Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. There his work focused on nutrition, developmental neurophysiology, and developmental cognitive neuroscience. He studied the effects of nutrition on children’s physical, mental, psychosocial and academic development. His final study explored the effects of an early infant diet on brain development and function from infancy to preadolescence in a large-scale study of over 500 children. He is remembered as a man of great intelligence with a wicked sense of humor and a wonderful colleague and mentor.
