Research
Criminal Street Gangs
I engage with security studies more broadly, including criminal street gangs within this scope. I was the Principal Investigator on a project jointly funded by the Center for Asian American Studies and the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell investigating the the dynamics of gang violence in Massachusetts. Localized research in San Francisco found that Asian youth joined street gangs to gain a sense of personal empowerment within the context of a marginalized and deprived migrant population. Hence, Asian youth participation in collective violence resulted from structural failures in their assimilation process to American society and norms. However, the extent to which these dynamics are also relevant in other contexts remains unclear. Building upon exploratory work in this area, our project examines the evolution of the gang conflict landscape in Massachusetts across 50 years. Data collection to expand data collection to all of New England is almost complete, along with other areas. In September 2020, I was awarded $435,020 from the National Institute of Justice to investigate the intersection of gun and gang violence in New Jersey, a project that is ongoing [Link].
Political Violence & Terrorism
My research also focuses on political violence, specifically in the realm of civil and ethnic conflicts. My dissertation investigated the intervening factors that impact the decision to engage in or desist from violence to bring about political change across the globe using advanced quantitative and networking methods. This work not only focused on the socio-political predictors of conflict, but also provided new insight into the dyadic nature of political grievances. Specifically, the project accounted for the dyadic relationships between individual groups within a conflict to further explore the larger networks from their foundational levels, an approach under-utilized in the security studies and criminological literatures. The network component of my dissertation resulted in a wealth of data already saved in a social network analysis (SNA) format. Since graduating, I have begun work that builds on this framework using more advanced and innovative networked methodological approaches. For example, my colleagues and I are working on a project to apply actor-oriented models to data on civil wars in an effort to more accurately map the effects of violence both on localized communities and broader conflict outcomes.
My second area of research within this space focuses on terrorist radicalization and behavior. Using open-source data, I have collaborated on projects to develop and analyze large datasets focusing on the behavioral patterns of ISIS-affiliated extremists in the United States. Within this space, I am most interested in moving the field beyond simple questions of “who becomes an extremist?” toward more data-driven questions around who becomes a certain type of actor and the psychological and political factors driving an individual's motivations for engaging with and disengaging from terrorist activity. I have coordinated two undergraduate internships to collect both quantitative data on U.S. foreign fighters and qualitative data on radicalization. Multiple planned manuscripts from these endeavors are in progress.
Program Evaluation
While I am interested in research methodologies and the implementation of innovative approaches to research more broadly, I really enjoy applying my methodological expertise to program evaluation work. I worked with the Center for Program Evaluation at the University of Massachusetts Lowell [Link] on a wide range of evaluation studies, on topics ranging from federally-funded programs to work with the local community. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed to serve our clients. This research broadened my methodological capabilities and helped me learn to adapt by expertise to a wider array of topics. I plan to continue my program evaluation work going forward. Since joining the faculty at Texas A&M International University, I have served as the Program Evaluator and Researcher for the TAMIU Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation initiative, funded by the NSF (PI: Mahmoud Khasawneh), where I have led research efforts to understand how to increase retention, persistence, and engagement of minorities and under-served populations in STEM fields with a special focus on increasing participation in research. This project has yielded several technical reports with multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts in development.