The Hopkins community lost a colleague, advisor and world-renowned reseracher on Aug. 23 when Dr. Peter Juscyk died of a heart attack. He was 53.
Jusczyk died while attending a scientific meeting in California. Jusczyk was a leading researcher in the field of language development in infants.
Jusczyk, who operated the Johns Hopkins Infant Language Research Laboratory with his wife, Ann Marie Juscyk, was often seen with a baby on his knee.
Jusczyk's experiments were highly praised or their ingenuity and effectiveness.
"He was a master at devising ways to test the cognitive abilities of pre-linguisitc chilren," said close friend and Psychology professor Gregory Ball.
Such studies provided evidence that infants as young as six months cannot only recognize the sound pattern of their names but can even associate words with meanings. Jusczyk stated in a 1997 CNN interview: "Children are learning about the way the language flows, in terms of the sound structure of the language, the melody of the language...all those properties are useful, eventually, for the infant to help crack the code.
A professor of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences since 1996, Jusczyk is remembered as a skilled and devoted psychologist.
"He was a very broad intellectual," said Ball. "He considered information from many different disciplines."
Dr. Barbara Landau, professor of Cognitive Science, agreed.
"He was a prolific scientist, energetically and doggedly pursuing some of the most fundamental questions about how infants perceive the speech stream before they learn to talk. He was also an advisor and mentor to many graduate students and an ardent collaborator with colleagues across the world.
Jusczyk's lab experiments were a delight for all involved, including the babies and parents who volunteered for studies. As Dean Richard McCarty stated in his letter to the faculty, "It was always a delight to see infants and toddlers arriving on campus with their parents for a session in Peter's about ourselves."
Jusczyk published a book in 1997, The Discovery of Spoken Language; the title of which reflects his belief that children are not taught language, but rather that they discover it. He received a B.A. in Psychology from Brown University and went on to obtain his Master's degree and Doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania.
Before coming to Hopkins, Jusczyk held positions at the University of Oregon, the State University of New York at Buffalo, Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, France. Last year, he was elected to the Society of Experimental Psychologists.
Jusczyk's death came as a shock to all, and he will be sorely missed.
"His death is a great loss not only to his family and friends, but to the academic and language development communities as well," said Infant Language Reserach Lab Graduate Assistant Melanie Soderstom.
Landau agrees with Soderstom's sentiments.
"He will be greatly missed in our profession, both for his science and for his energy, enthusiasm and collegialty," he said.
Indeed, Jusczyk touched colleagues and students alike. His science and tutelage will be difficult to replace.
Graduate student Karen Arnold worked with Jusczyk.
"The huge body of research he conducted stood at the crossroads of psychoacoustics, speech perception, linguistic theory, cognitive development and even music cognition," said Arnold.
"He was a tireless font of activity; at any given moment, he had research projects in progress with many colleagues from a wide range of disciplines and from around the world."
"I count myself lucky to have been one of them, even for a short while. The loss to the field of developmental psychology and to his family, friends and colleagues is inestimable and tragic.
