Profile

Professor Arthur Tomie is an addiction research scientist.  He conducts basic research on animal learning and behavior, particularly the loss of self-control due to the development of reflexive performance of directed, motor responding, called sign-tracking. This has led Professor Tomie to develop sign-tracking as an animal learning model of drug addiction.

Professor Tomie is also an author, publisher, and educator. His goal is to boost the awareness of the general public, and most especially the awareness of parents and young children, of the well-camouflaged role of sign-tracking in the drug addiction process. To achieve this goal, Professor Tomie has assembled a creative writing team consisting of Barbara Zito (creative writer and storyteller), Steven A. Petruccio (artist and illustrator), Nikyta Sharma (editorial and technical assistant), and Kelli Curiotto (webpage developer).  Working together, they have developed a series of beautifully illustrated scientific short stories about sign-tracking and drug addiction.

Professor Tomie is active in several organizations dedicated to educating the public about the drug addiction process. The goal is to provide a framework to better understand the mysterious process whereby repeated acts of voluntary and recreational drug use turns into the addiction beast, as revealed by reflexive and uncontrollable acts of drug-taking. Professor Tomie is the faculty sponsor of the Rutgers Student Activities Club, RUDrugAware (RUDA).  He is also a member of several community organizations, including the Municipal Alliance for Prevention of  Substance Abuse, Mercer Coalition on Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, and the NJTV Advisory Panel on Opioid Abuse.  In addition, Professor Tomie is also associated with drug addiction programs at the Carrier Clinic, RWJ Behavioral Health, the Veteran’s Administration, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, and Rutgers Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies.

Arthur Tomie is also a decorated combat veteran who served a one year tour of duty (1969-1970) with the US Army’s lst Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, Quang Tri Province, RVN.