Dowell Myers is a professor in the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development. He is the director of the Population Dynamics Research Group and the co-director of the new Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration. His latest book is Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America. Read below to find out more about him.

Q. What is your favorite word?

A. Hope.

Q. What comforts you?

A. Accomplishment.

Q. What is your favorite way to procrastinate?

A. I don’t procrastinate very much. I’ve gotten good at that. But I suppose I read the newspaper.

Q. How would you describe yourself in five words or fewer?

A. Tall, stubborn and far-sighted.

Q. If you could live in any other time, when would it be and why?

A. 1890. The world was just being discovered and everything was really in its native state. I would’ve liked to have been out there, traveling the globe and seeing the exotic sights that are disappearing.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?

A. Having too much time to think by myself.

Q. What is your most prized material possession?

A. My house.

Q. What teacher or professor changed your life?

A. Margaret Harris, my anthropology professor.

Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?

A. John F. Kennedy.

*Photo by Allison Glenn.