For Eduardo Salas, it all started with a deceptively simple question: Why do some teams thrive under pressure while others fall apart? That question launched a decades-long pursuit to understand how people communicate, collaborate and perform in high-stakes environments. Over the years, Salas’ research has shaped how organizations build and train effective teams — from hospitals and cockpits to military command centers and space missions.
Salas, a longtime faculty member in Rice University’s Department of Psychological Sciences, was recently named associate vice president for research with a focus on collaborative engagement and team science — a role that supports large-scale interdisciplinary efforts across campus.
Now, the American Psychological Association is recognizing his decades of impact. Salas has been named the 2025 Group Psychologist of the Year by APA’s Division 49, a national honor celebrating pioneering contributions to the science and practice of group psychology.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized by your peers for work that one has done,” Salas said. “It’s very satisfying and rewarding — and a great validation of Rice’s culture of research excellence, innovation and impact.”
A leading voice in team science, Salas has published hundreds of articles, authored two books and co-edited more than 35 books exploring how teams communicate, train and perform under pressure. His work has shaped practices in aviation, health care, defense and beyond, earning him global recognition as one of the most influential researchers in the field.
“With the support, encouragement and partnerships of many collaborators over four decades, the most meaningful contribution has been the theoretically driven and evidence-based insights and guidelines to turn a team of experts into an expert team,” he said.
Salas traces his interest in group psychology back to graduate school, where a seminar on team dynamics sparked what would become a lifelong focus. That interest deepened during his 15 years with the U.S. Navy, where he developed and validated evidence-based tools to improve team effectiveness in operational settings.
At Rice, Salas directs the MET (Making Effective Teams) Lab, where he mentors students and advances research that applies behavioral science to real-world teamwork challenges. His leadership extends across the university, where he helps foster multidisciplinary research with national and global impact.
“It is a privilege to work at Rice — no question,” he said. “My department colleagues, my graduate students, my collaborators ‘across the street’ and across campus — with the supportive leadership we have — make it easy to be motivated and passionate to conduct meaningful research. Rice creates the conditions to excel as a scholar.”
Looking ahead, Salas sees both opportunity and complexity as team science evolves.
“AI will create new opportunities and new challenges to team science,” he said. “Teams might be composed differently in the future. And we need to invest more in understanding teamwork in multidisciplinary science teams as innovation and knowledge generation depend on effective and sustained collaborations.”
Salas will be recognized at the 2025 APA Annual Convention in Denver later this summer, where he will receive the Group Psychologist of the Year Award from APA Division 49. The honor adds to a long list of accolades recognizing his enduring influence on how teams think, work and succeed.