Biography
My research interests are in the areas of criminology, urban sociology, and the interconnection
of these areas as represented by research on neighborhood correlates of crime. I am
primarily a quantitative scholar, but I have co-authored theoretical research as well.
Examples of topics explored in my research include crime in the context of college
campuses and high schools, the importance of deportations on violent crime, the association
of gentrification with violent crime and school-level academic performance, the importance
of the selection of gentrification measurement strategies and whether the concentration
of public transit was associated with changes in household income. My research has
appeared in Crime & Delinquency, Deviant Behavior, Law & Society Review, Urban Studies, Journal of Urban Health, Youth & Society, Journal of Criminal Justice and Child and Adolescent Social Work. My research has also been highlighted by mainstream media including The Washington Post and CityLab by The Atlantic.
I am currently working on research projects that examine the importance of community
for post-disaster crime levels, the association of gentrification with multiple outcomes
(gang and non-gang homicide; school level performance on standardized tests; neighborhood
community; self-rated health), and the importance of religious affiliation for levels
of violent and property crime in the United States.
My teaching interests mirror my research interests. Since joining the faculty at Louisiana
State University, I have taught undergraduate courses in Criminology, Sociology of
Youth and Crime (Juvenile Delinquency) and The Community (Urban Sociology). At the
graduate level, I have offered sections of Sociology of Crime and Deviance (Criminological
Theory) and Ecology of Crime (Criminology with an emphasis on Urban Sociological topics).
In addition to my classroom teaching experiences, I actively include graduate students
in my own research projects in addition to working with them on their own research.
I have also worked with several undergraduates on Senior Honors Theses projects. My
efforts with these activities are guided by three interdependent goals: the sharing
of knowledge, the encouragement of critical thinking skills and the importance of
self-reflection and evaluation for research and individual learning.
Education
PhD: University at Albany, State University of New York (2013)
Curriculum Vitae
Courses Recently Taught at LSU
(Syllabi are for illustrative purposes & subject to change)
- SOCL 4321: The Community
- SOCL 4461: Criminology
- SOCL 4462: Sociology of Youth and Crime
- SOCL 7591: Ecology of Crime