Lucien Szpiro came to The Graduate Center from the National Center of Scientific Research at the University of Paris (Universite de Paris-Sud), where he earned his Ph.D. and where he had served as Directeur de Recherches de Classe Exceptionelle (Distinguished Professor) since 1991. Ranked among the world's leading mathematicians specializing in the fields of commutative algebra, Diophantine geometry, and arithmetic algebraic geometry, he is also a major force in such significant developments as Faltings's solution of the Mordell conjecture. He introduced, developed, and applied Arakelov's theory as a refined tool of modern Diophantine geometry. His conjecture about the discriminant of elliptic curves is one of the most striking problems in number theory. He has held prestigious visiting positions in the United States, Japan, India, Germany, and Holland. Since coming to The Graduate Center, Professor Szpiro has started new research in algebraic dynamics and has established with Peter Sarnak and Dorian Goldfeld the successful New York Joint Number Theory Seminar, which rotates among New York University, Columbia, and The Graduate Center.