The Leir Center for Financial Bubble Research seeks to understand through quantitative and qualitative research how financial bubbles can be identified, including their stages of development and what policies can best manage impacts. The center examines recent financial crises with the goal of developing a more precise understanding of what constitutes a bubble and what does not. Behavioral characteristics such as over-optimism or pessimism regarding policy, investments and contracts are areas of inquiry. Importantly, the Center’s objective is to take an approach to bubble research that focuses on analyzing bubbles in ways that are meant to be useful to practitioners. The proximate “customers” for the research findings are other academics interested in finance and financial institutions generally, and in economic instability more particularly. The center’s research on the links between disruptive technologies and bubbles will have relevance for the study of entrepreneurship, which is another focus for the Martin Tuchman School of Management. Outside of academia, we expect significant interest within the financial community and by relevant government regulators.