Dwight W. Read received his Ph.D at UCLA in mathematics, doing research on properties of abstract algebras. He is a Professor of Anthropology and of Statistics and publishes in all the subdisciplines that comprise a four-field anthropology – archaeology, biological anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. His research work focuses on statistical modeling of hominid evolution, theory and method of artifact classification, and formal/mathematical representation of cultural constructs such as kinship terminologies. His current research addresses the interrelationship between the material and the ideational domains in human societies. He had a Visiting Scientist affiliation with the IBM Los Angeles Research Center from 1986 - 1989. He has edited two Special Issues of the Journal of Quantitative Anthropology (Computer-Based Solutions to Anthropological Problems (1990) and Formal Methods in Anthropology: Past Successes and New Directions (1993)) and a Special Issue of the Journal of Artifical Societes and Social Simulation (Computer Simulation in Anthropology). He has just completed an important book, Artifact Classification: A Theoretical and Methodological Approach. He has developed a major computer program (Kinship Algebraic Expert System, or KAES) that constructs a formal (algebraic) model of the logic underlying the structure of a kinship terminology and implements that logic in the form of correctly predicted genealogical definitions of kin terms. He has received several large National Science Foundation grants and was a co-Principal Investigator on an NSF Biocomplexity Grant, focusing on the cultural dimension underlying cooperative behavior among Balinese rice farmers. He has been a primary participant in the European ISCOM social innovation and complexity project sponsored by the Santa Fe Institute (USA) and the University of Reggio Emilia and Modena (Italy). He is one of the founding faculty and Chair for the newly established Interdegree Program in Human Complex systems at UCLA.