Greg Ridgeway has been appointed the Rebecca W. Bushnell Professor of Criminology in the School of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Ridgeway, who is also the department chair of criminology and a professor of statistics and data science, focuses his research on the development of statistical, computational, and analytical methods to improve the understanding of crime and the functioning of the justice system. He has put this expertise into practice in his work with police departments within the U.S. and beyond, prosecutor and public defender organizations, sentencing commissions, and civil rights agencies.

Dr. Ridgeway has previously served as acting director of the National Institute of Justice, and, as such, a member of the Senior Executive Service, the highest leadership position in the federal government’s civil service. He also served as director of the RAND Safety and Justice Program and the RAND Center on Quality Policing, where he worked with criminal justice organizations around the world. In addition, Dr. Ridgeway is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, the author of numerous academic papers, and the inventor on eight awarded U.S. patents.

This is one of two professorships endowed by the Penn Arts & Sciences Board of Advisors in honor of former dean Rebecca W. Bushnell. Dr. Bushnell joined the Penn Arts & Sciences faculty in the department of English in 1982 and served as the dean of the School of Arts & Sciences for eight years.