Alfred Blumstein is J. Erik Jonsson University Professor of Urban Systems and Operations Research. His research over the past twenty years has covered many aspects of criminal justice phenomena and policy, including demographic trends, juvenile violence and drug-enforcement policy. He was also director of the National Consortium on Violence Research (NCOVR), a multi-university initiative funded by the National Science Foundation and headquartered at the Heinz College. Before joining the Heinz School in 1969, Dr. Blumstein directed the Office of Urban Research at the Institute for Defense Analyses. Prior to that, he was director of the Science and Technology Task Force for the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in Washington, D.C. Dr. Blumstein was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Research on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice from its founding in 1975 until 1986. He served as chairman of that committee between 1979 and 1984, and also has chaired the committee's panels on Research on Deterrent and Incapacitative Effects, Sentencing Research, and Research on Criminal Careers. He was a member of the Academy's Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education from 1994 to 2000, and also served as chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the state's criminal justice planning agency, and as a member of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. Dr.Blumstein holds a B.A. in engineering physics and a Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University, NY.