Ron Blei received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 1971. His research interests over the past four decades have spanned harmonic analysis (sparse spectral sets), functional analysis (Grothendieck-type inequalities) and probability theory (stochastic integration, combinatorial dimension and fractional Cartesian products as measurements of randomness and interdependence). Recently, Blei has been revisiting Grothendieck-type inequalities from a harmonic analysis (on dyadic groups) point of view, focusing specifically on issues of constructibility; his most recent work will soon appear as an AMS Memoir, and can meanwhile be accessed on Arxiv. Blei has been at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Connecticut since 1971, and retired from teaching in 2011. Over the years he has held visiting posts at the University of Genova, Uppsala University, the Hebrew University, University of British Columbia, Cambridge University, McGill University, University of Wisconsin and UCLA.