MAX J. PFEFFER is International Professor of Development Sociology and Senior Associate Dean of the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. His teaching concentrates on environmental sociology and sociological theory. His research spans several areas including rural labor markets, international migration, land use and environmental planning. The work has focused on a variety of rural and urban communities, including rural/urban fringe areas. Research sites include rural New York and Central America. He has been awarded competitive grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture′s National Research Initiative and its Fund for Rural America, and the Social Science Research Council. Pfeffer has published a wide range of scholarly articles and has written/co-edited four books. He recently published (with John Schelhas) Saving Forests, Protecting People? Environmental Conservation in Central America. Max has served on and led National Research Council committees of the Water Science and Technology Board. Max has served as Chair of the Development Sociology Department, and the Associate Director of both the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cornell University Center for the Environment.