Obituary: Professor Keith Rayner (1943–2015)

Keith was the world's leading expert in the study of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the ability to read in children and adults. In the 1970s, he pioneered the use of eye-tracking methodology in psychological research, which enabled the precise measurement and manipulation of read text with millisecond control. Through Keith's work, researchers can accurately predict how long an adult will look at each word on a page as they engage in the skilled reading of natural text, as accounted for by the E–Z Reader Model, developed with his colleagues and students. In addition to illuminating our understanding of the operation of a critical human skill, this research has significant promise for realistically improving adult reading performance and for the teaching of skilled reading to children. Keith published over 400 peer-reviewed research articles across his career, including over 130 since his arrival at UC San Diego in 2008. He co-wrote The Psychology of Reading in 1989, and edited or co-edited 10 volumes of research on reading and eye movements. His research was continuously funded across his career by the National Institutes of Health, and he received funding from the National Science Foundation, Microsoft Research, and the Office of Naval Research. One of Keith's proudest achievements was his record of training and placement of graduate students and post-doctoral researchers he mentored. He has placed 19 graduate students and 25 post-doctoral researchers in faculty positions around the world, as well as four graduate students and four post-doctoral researchers in professional positions in industry and government. Keith left a deep mark on his colleagues in his discipline and at the University of Mas-sachusetts and at UC San Diego, as well as the dozens of students and scholars he has men-tored throughout the world across his 40-year career.