Sam Sommers is an award-winning teacher and researcher of social psychology at Tufts University. His research has been covered by Good Morning America, NPR, Harper’s, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times.
His research specialties include how people think, communicate, and behave in diverse settings, as well as psychological perspectives on the U.S. legal system. Sam has lead workshops in which he introduces non-psychologists to research on race, gender, and diversity issues, and has consulted with attorneys on psychological research regarding the often subtle and unconscious nature of contemporary discrimination.
He has been qualified as an expert in several cases on a variety of aspects regarding the criminal justice system, including factors influencing eyewitness memory; cross-race eyewitness identification; photo array and lineup administration; race and capital trial outcomes; race and jury selection; and jury racial composition.
He is an approved vendor with the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services.
At Tufts, Sam is known for his engaging lecture style and has won multiple teaching awards, including being selected by the Student Senate as the Professor of the Year in 2009.
In his free time, Sam enjoys hanging out with his wife and two daughters, batting lead-off for the vaunted Tufts Psychology summer softball team, and exerting far more effort than he probably should looking for Seinfeld and Daily Show clips to use in the classroom.
For speaking engagements contact Sam directly or through The Harry Walker Agency.