Melissa Hardy is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Demography at Penn State University in University Park. She is an alumna of Albright College and Indiana University in Bloomington. Her research focused on aging and the life course, retirement and age-stratified transitions, self-assessed health, and political attitudes using longitudinal data and a range of quantitative techniques.  Her published work appears in American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Demography. She enjoyed teaching social statistics and general linear models to graduate and undergraduates students, using everyday experiences to help them understand the meaning of statistical concepts.

Alan Bryman is Professor of Organizational and Social Research, School of Management, University of Leicester, UK.