Barbara Ehrenreich (born August 26, 1941, Butte, Montana); is an American feminist, democratic socialist, sociologist and political activist, a prominent figure in the Democratic Socialists of America. She is a widely read columnist and essayist, and the author of nearly 20 books. Ehrenreich studied physics at Reed College, graduating in 1963. Her senior thesis was entitled Electrochemical oscillations of the silicon anode. In 1968, she received a Ph.D in cellular biology from Rockefeller University. A frequent contributor to the New York Times, Harpers, and the Progressive, she is a contributing writer to Time magazine.