Robert E. “Bob” Bailey ’13 graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1959 with a Bachelor of Science in zoology.
Bailey is a world-renowned behavioral engineer who has made significant contributions to psychology, behavioral analysis and professional animal training. His unique passion for understanding animals and his affinity for science and technology helped him become an important figure in the world of behavioral psychology.
Bailey became the first director of animal training for the U.S. Navy in 1962. In that capacity, he directed studies on the hydrodynamics of dolphin movement and dolphin communication, as well as the development of behavioral, physiological and nutritional norms for a variety of aquatic animals, including dolphins, seals and sea lions. Bailey completed the first open-ocean dolphin release-and-recovery program in 1965 and published the methods used in this project.
He served as director of research, vice president and general manager and president of Animal Behavior Enterprises of Hot Springs, which operated the IQ Zoo, Animal Wonderland and other animal entertainment ventures in the United States and abroad.
Bailey, along with his wife, Marian Breland Bailey, trained more than 140 species of animals during his over 50-year career. In the early 1990s, the couple started Eclectic Science Productions and began presenting animal training workshops and educational seminars all over the world. These workshops are now famously known as “Bob and Marian’s Chicken Training Workshops” and helped spread operant technology to a new generation of trainers and academics.
The honorary Doctor of Science was conferred Feb. 22, 2013.