Eric Sydnor Corp, Research Associate Professor of Psychology, died December 9, 2025.
Corp earned a BA in psychology in 1969 and an M.S. in psychology with a clinical track in 1972, both from California State University Los Angeles. While there he volunteered as a crisis intervention therapist. Later, he practiced psychotherapy in Austin, Minnesota and was an Involuntary Treatment Officer performing civil commitments in Spokane, Washington. His time as an Involuntary Treatment Officer led him to believe that the prevailing view of the causes of severe psychiatric disorder was overlooking a biological root. This spurred him to pursue a doctorate in the field of neuroscience which he completed in 1986, earning a PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Eric then moved east to pursue a fellowship at the E. W. Bourne Behavioral Research Laboratory of Weill Cornell Medicine in White Plains, New York. His research there explored receptors in the brain that were involved with insulin and appetite mechanisms. He eventually was promoted to Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry.
In 1997, Eric settled in Amherst, MA after he was hired as a Research Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Aside from teaching courses in psychology, Eric ran a successful research lab investigating how the brain controls feeding behavior, identifying brain regions and peptides that control food intake. He was also a dedicated and patient mentor who inspired those that trained with him.