Engineer to Operations Research to Criminology: Quite a Trajectory

Abstract

In reflecting on my career trajectory, I find it very intriguing: from high school science to Cornell's first class in engineering physics and then on to early involvement in the new field of operations research on military and air transportation, which led to significant leadership roles there. I was then a naïve recruit in criminology in a role that involved quantitative analysis and concern for the total criminal justice system with an emphasis on dimensions of criminal careers and their use in analysis for sentencing, incarceration, and related policies. The analytic issues emphasized included racial disproportionality in prison, drug policy, and facilitating redemption from the long-term punitive effects of crime involvement. In the process, I had the opportunity to provide leadership to the Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University, an important academic institution concerned with facilitating rational public policy; the National Consortium on Violence Research (NCOVR), a multi-university research and education program; and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, an important state-level criminal justice policy and funding agency.