Ronald W. Perry earned the Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Washington in 1975. He specializes in emergency management and disaster research and worked for a National Laboratory (Battelle Institute) prior to his 1983 appointment as Professor of Public Affairs at Arizona State University. He has published twenty books on different aspects of emergency preparedness and comprehensive emergency management and more than 125 referred journal articles. Dr. Perry's public service includes appointment to three National Academy of Sciences Committees (United States Emergency Preparedness, Technology in Emergency Management and Natural Disasters). He was a pro bono consultant to the President's Commission on the Reactor Accident at Three Mile Island. In Arizona, he was an original appointee to the Governor's Terrorism Task Force and still serves on the Arizona Council for Earthquake Safety. Locally, Dr. Perry serves on the Steering Committees for the Phoenix Urban Area Security Initiative, the Phoenix Metropolitan Medical Response System, the Phoenix Fire Department Community Emergency Response Team, the Phoenix Fire Department Hazardous Incident Response Team and the Arizona Task Force I: Urban Search and Rescue Team. He holds the "Award for Excellence in Emergency Management" from the Arizona Emergency Services Association and the "Award for Outstanding Environmental Achievement" from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Phoenix Fire Department selected him in 2003 to receive the Pearce Memorial Award for Contributions to the Hazardous Incident Response Team.