Carlos S. Alvarado, Ph.D., received his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico, an M.Sc. in Parapsychology from John F. Kennedy University in California, an M.A. in History from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh. His research has been funded by the Parapsychology Foundation (New York City), the Society for Psychical Research (London, England), the Perrott-Warrick Fund (Cambridge, England), and the Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene (Freiburg, Germany), and more recently by the Bial Foundation (Portugal).
As an adjunct faculty member, Alvarado taught parapsychology and APA style at Carlos Albizu University in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has also served on dissertation committees at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras and at Sofia University (formerly the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology) in California, where he was an Adjunct Research Faculty. From 2003 through 2011, Alvarado was appointed Assistant Professor of Research at the University of Virginia in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, specifically in the Division of Perceptual Studies. From 2010 through January 2013, he was also the Scholar in Residence at Atlantic University.
He served as the Chairman of Domestic and International Programs at the Parapsychology Foundation from 2000 to 2008, volunteered occasionally from 2008 through 2014, and in January 2015, was named the Foundation’s first Research Fellow. He was the Associate Editor of the Journal of Scientific Exploration from 2009 until December 2019. He also authored many entries for the Psi Encyclopedia of the Society for Psychical Research and was the Book Review Editor for the Journal of Parapsychology
Over the years Alvarado ran his own consulting firm on the side, working with Zingrone, and with Chisdes as well. He conducted historical research and survey studies in the United States, Scotland, and Puerto Rico, alone and together with Zingrone and Chisdes.
In February of 2021 Alvarado was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer and passed away in July of 2021. The website will be updated over the coming months. In the meantime, here are a variety of materials and remembrances to illustrate his extraordinary life and career:
Carlos S. Alvarado (1955-2021) CV
Biography of Carlos S. Alvarado (1955-2021) in the Society for Psychical Research’s Psi Encyclopedia
The SPR’s Tom Ruffles’s “An Appreciation of Dr Carlos Alvarado”
Dr. Nancy L. Zingrone’s “On Carlos S. Alvarado (1955-2021)”
Lisette Coly’s “And the Ride Continues”
The Psi Encyclopedia’s “Carlos S. Alvarado” authored by Michael Duggan and James G. Matlock
The e-Boletín’s “Dossier Homenaje a Carlos S Alvarado (1955-2021)
The Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition invited papers on Carlos S. Alvarado by Etzel Cardeña, Andreas Sommer, Harvey Irwin, Alfonso Martinez-Tabos, Massimo Biondi, Wellington Zangari & Fatima Regina Machado, and Alexander Moreira-Almeida click here and scroll down.
Obituaries and remembrances were published in the Australian Journal of Parapsychology, the Journal of Anomalistics, the Journal of Parapsychology, the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, and the Journal of Scientific Exploration.
To view videos commemorating Alvarado’s life and work, see the playlist “In Memory of Carlos S. Alvarado (1955-2021).“
To view videos in which Carlos is featured, see the playlist “Carlos S. Alvarado’s Lectures, Interviews, and Other Videos.“