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 Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and a Ph.D. in Sociology in 1972 from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
.
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, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...
.
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), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
reports, Westrum was a
MUFON
The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is a US-based non-profit organization composed of civilian volunteers who study reported UFO sightings. It is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind, claiming more than 4,000 members worldwide wi ...
consultant.
Westrum is said to be a frequent critic of
CSICOP
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is a program within the US non-profit organization Center for Inquiry (CFI), which seeks to "prom ...
and other skeptical organizations.
Honors
He was the Scientist Guest of Honor at
ConFusion
In medicine, confusion is the quality or 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
People from Chicago