Carnegie Mellon University

Alfred Blumstein

Alfred Blumstein

J. Erik Jonsson University Professor of Urban Systems and Operations Research, The Heinz College

Address
The Heinz College
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

  • Carnegie Mellon 1969-

Professor 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 has chaired the committee's Panels on Research on Deterrent and Incapacitative Effects, on Sentencing Research, and on Research on Criminal Careers.

Professor Blumstein was President of the Operations Research Society of America in 1977-78, and was awarded its Kimball Medal "for service to the profession and the society" in 1985. He was President of The Institute of Management Sciences (TIMS) during 1987-88. In 1999, he became President-Elect of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Professor Blumstein is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology, was the 1987 recipient of the Society's Sutherland Award for research contributions, and was President in 1991-92. Professor Blumstein is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Education

  • Ph.D. (Operations Research) 1960, Cornell University.
  • B.Eng. Phys. 1951

Research

Professor Blumstein has had extensive experience in both research and policy in the public sector. His interest in the criminal justice system began with his service on the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in 1966-67, as Director of its Task Force on Science and Technology. His research has covered many aspects of the operation of the criminal justice system, with special attention to prison populations and sentencing, and has involved extensive research of criminal careers.

Publications

  1. Blumstein, Alfred, "Crime Modeling", Operations Research, vol. 50, no.1, Jan/Feb 2002 (one of invited papers for special 50th Anniversary issue) pp. 16-24., 2002
  2. Blumstein, Alfred, and Joel Wallman (eds.), The Crime Drop in America(Cambridge University Press), 2000.
  3. Blumstein, Alfred, "Prisons: A Policy Challenge", Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control, (James Q. Wilson and Joan Petersilia, eds.) ICS Press. pp. 451-482., 2002
  4. Piquero, Alex R., David P. Farrington, and Alfred Blumstein, "The Criminal Career Paradigm", Crime & Justice, A Review of Research, vol. 30, pp. 359-506, 2003
  5. Blumstein, Alfred, Frederick R. Rivara, and Richard Rosenfeld, "The Rise and Decline of Homicide - and Why", Annual Review of Public Health, vol. 21, pp 505-541, 2000