Sauls studied physics at the Colorado School of Mines, graduating in 1975, and pursued a doctorate in the subject at Stony Brook University, which he completed in 1980.
Sauls began his academic career at Princeton University, as research associate, instructor, then assistant professor of physics.
[2] In 1998, Sauls was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, "[f]or contributions to theories of unconventional superfluidity and superconductivity.
"[3] He shared the 2012 John Bardeen Prize [de] with Chandra M. Varma and Steven Kivelson.
[4] In 2017, Sauls was jointly awarded the Fritz London Memorial Prize, sharing the honor with William Halperin and Jeevak Parpia.