Ron Westrum (born November 23, 1945) is an American sociologist.

Education

Born in Chicago in 1945, Westrum earned a B.A. (cum laude) in Social Relations in 1966 from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and a Ph.D. in Sociology in 1972 from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Works

He is the author of ''Complex Organizations: Growth, Struggle, and Change'', (with Kamil Samaha), Prentice-Hall, 1984; ''Sidewinder: Creative Missile Development at China Lake''. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1999. 33l pp.; and of ''Technologies: The Shaping of People and Things & Society''.Belmont, Ca.: Wadsworth Publishing,1991. 394 pp.

Recent work

As of 1987, he was professor of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Technology at

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public university, public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal ...

. His recent papers include: “The Three Cultures Model,” presentation at Symposium on Patient Safety for Improving Florida’s ''Medical Education'', January 2004. “Increasing the Number of Guards at Nuclear Power Plants,” ''Risk Analysis'', Vol. 24, No. 4, 2004, pp. 959–961. “Models of Bureaucratic Failure,” in ''Innovation and Consolidation in Aviation'', (Eds., Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004) Interested in

unidentified flying object An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

reports, Westrum was a MUFON consultant. Westrum is said to be a frequent critic of CSICOP and other skeptical organizations.

Honors

He was the Scientist Guest of Honor at

ConFusion In psychology, confusion is the quality or emotional state of being bewildered or unclear. The term "acute mental confusion"

XXX (January 23–25, 2004).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westrum, Ron 1945 births Living people Harvard College alumni University of Chicago alumni Eastern Michigan University faculty American sociologists Social scientists from Chicago