BiographyScott Atran is currently a research director in anthropology at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and member of the Jean Nicod Institute at the École Normale Supérieure. He is also visiting professor of psychology and public policy at the University of Michigan, and presidential scholar in sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He has briefed members of the U.S. Congress and the National Security Council staff at the White House on pathways to and from violent extremism. He was an early critic of U.S. intervention in Iraq and of deepening involvement in Afghanistan, and he has been engaged in conflict negotiations in the Middle East.