Peter M. Bentler is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, with a primary focus in quantitative psychology. His research interests include personality, drug abuse, psychometrics, and the theory, methods, and applications of causal modeling, particularly structural equation modeling. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Stanford University in 1964, followed by a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship at the Educational Testing Service from 1964 to 1965. Bentler joined UCLA in 1965 as a staff psychologist in the Psychology Clinic and assistant professor of psychology, advancing through the academic ranks to Distinguished Professor of Psychology. In 1998, he was appointed Professor of Statistics, later becoming Distinguished Professor. He served as Chair of the UCLA Department of Psychology from 1999 to 2002, Director of Social Science Computing from 1985 to 1992, and Director of a National Institute on Drug Abuse research center on the psychosocial aspects of drug and alcohol use from 1974 to 2013.

Bentler developed the EQS structural equations program, a cornerstone tool in SEM analysis used worldwide. His prolific publications, exceeding 377,000 citations on Google Scholar, include landmark works such as "Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures" (Bentler & Bonett, 1980, Psychological Bulletin), "Comparative fit indexes in structural models" (1990, Psychological Bulletin), "Models of attitude-behavior relations" (Bentler & Speckart, 1979, Psychological Review), "Robust mean and covariance structure analysis through iteratively reweighted least squares" (Bentler & Yuan, 2000, Psychometrika), and "Linear structural equations with latent variables" (Bentler & Weeks, 1980, Psychometrika). These contributions have shaped fields including psychometrics, multivariate statistics, and substance use research. Among his honors are the Cattell Award for Distinguished Multivariate Research (1972), Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from APA Division 5 (1996), Sells Award for Outstanding Career Contributions (2005), APA Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology (with Karl Jöreskog, 2007), Career Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Psychometric Society (2014), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Psychological Association (2015), and Fellow of the American Statistical Association (2015). Bentler has contributed extensively to editorial boards including Psychometrika (1981-2015) and Multivariate Behavioral Research, and served on governing boards of the Psychometric Society and Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology. In 2018, he became an Honorary Fellow of United International College.

Professional Email: bentler@ucla.edu