[1] Saal was a Westinghouse Science Talent Search finalist in 1960 and received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D., all from Columbia University.
[1][2] Saal was a visiting professor of the State University of New York from 1972 to 1973 before joining the IBM Corporation.
[2][5] In 2002, Saal was chosen by the United States Department of Justice to serve to lead the technical committee charged with monitoring and enforcing the Microsoft anti-trust case.
[2] He was also a director of the San Jose Museum of Art, American Institute of Mathematics, and served on the board of advisors of University of Maryland Business School, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Henry Crown Fellowship Program of the Aspen Institute.
[9] Between 1989 and 1996, he has given away more than 20 percent of his net worth to various philanthropic causes, including medical research, education charities, and the assistance of Jewish refugees from Russia.