Dr. David J. Halperin is a Judaica scholar who specializes in religious traditions of heavenly ascent. He is also known for having been a teenage UFO investigator.Now retired from teaching, Halperin taught Jewis History at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.Halperin has written five non-fiction books on Jewish mysticism and messianism, and two novels, "Journal of a UFO Investigator," and "Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO."Halperin received his B.A. in Semitic Studies from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from University of California Berkeley.