Penn Criminology - Student Biographies

Master of Science

Jamie Burns is from Wayne, NJ. She is currently a senior undergraduate at Penn, submatriculating in the Masters of Science program in Criminology. Her undergraduate major is Psychology, because understanding people is fundamental to any profession. Over the past three summers, she has interned at a Criminal Defense and Civil Law firm in New Jersey. She has also interned with the Philadelphia Police Department, shadowing an Inspector and spending time in all of the different branches of law enforcement from crime scene investigation and analyzing samples at the crime lab and victim/witness protection and answering 911 calls at the “round house.” After graduating from Penn in 2008 with a B.A. in Psychology and an M.S. in Criminology, she plans on attending law school.

Holly Burns-LaRiche prepared for her academic endeavors at the Hathaway Brown School for Girls in Ohio. She followed her graduation from HB with study at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. While at Vanderbilt, Holly combined: sociology, psychology, history, political science, women's studies, and communications to construct her own interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree in the Sociology of Criminal Behavior. As a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Holly plans to deepen her knowledge of the diverse context and people creating, fueling, and combating the world of crime. Holly plans to continue her work with domestic violence victims and to hopefully further her studies in a doctoral program.

Alexis Castellani is from Kingston, Pennsylvania and graduated cum laude from Saint Joseph 's University with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and minor in Business. During her undergraduate career, she interned at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia and Barton Gilanelli & Associates, a Philadelphia public relations firm. She also studied abroad in Italy for a semester.

Robey Champine is from Old Lyme, CT and graduated Magna Cum Laude and Junior Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in psychology and Spanish from Smith College in May 2007. A Smith First Group Scholar and Sigma Xi honors student, Robey was active in Smith’s psychology department as President of the Psi Chi chapter, a student liaison, and as a research assistant in the areas of child developmental and abnormal psychology. As the Special Assistant to the City of Cleveland Law Director during the summer of 2006, she assisted in the psychological evaluation of alleged criminal subjects and published an article in the Cleveland Bar Journal. More recently, Robey spent the summer of 2007 interning in the Human Resources and Security Departments at General Dynamics – Electric Boat, a high-security nuclear engineering company. After graduation, Robey plans to enter a behavioral sciences career in federal law enforcement.

Hsing-Chia Cheng is from Taiwan. She graduated from National Taipei University last year and majored in Real Estate and Built Environment, a concentrated field about Laws of Land, human with environment, urban planning, and many special survey skills, such as Cadastral Survey, and Geographic Information System (GIS). Her major did not directly connect with Criminology, but a Criminology class she took during her fourth year aroused her interest in the subject of crime. She is especially interested in the field of human behavior and environment. She would like to research how the environment affects people's behavior. Her goal is to build up a safety system in the community in Taiwan. This system can have a strong connection with the community, such as to enhance the control in the community, and to reeducate the pupil that has deviant behavior.

Hsiang-Chuan Chou is from Taiwan, R.O.C. She graduated from National Taiwan University in 2007 and earned B.S.’ in Psychology. During the four years in college, she not only concentrated on her major subjects of psychology but also actively took classes related to criminology. Through these courses she’s grown an interest in fields such as crime mapping, the motivation of committing crime, and criminal justice. She hopes that she can connect her interests in criminology with her psychology background, and intends to pursue related careers.

Shervin Dhanani is from New London, New Hampshire and graduated cum laude from Tufts University in 2007 with a B.A. in Philosophy and minor in Sociology. His interest in crime and deviance developed through his philosophy major, and he is pursuing a Masters in criminology to gain a more concrete understanding of the field. During college, he spent his full junior year abroad studying in Paris France, and he interned at the U.S. Secret Service New York Field Office as well as the New Hampshire State Police where he conducted criminal background checks on individuals purchasing firearms in the state. His areas of interest include but are not limited to youth gangs and police culture and conduct. Shervin ultimately hopes to pursue a career in federal law enforcement.

Josh Garber is currently pursuing a joint degree (J.D./M.S.) in Law and Criminology. He was raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Arizona, graduating magna cum laude, in 2006. While in college, Josh interned at NASA, FEMA, and Merrill Lynch. At Penn Law, he has pursued many extra-curricular activities, which include editing the Journal of Animal Law and Ethics, competing in the National Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court Competition, and serving as Vice President for Academic Affairs of Lambda, Co-Chair of the Orientation Committee for the Class of 2010, Treasurer of the Penn Law Tennis Club, and Student Board Member of GALLOP (Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia). A strong proponent of personal autonomy in the law, Josh hopes to use his dual degree to fight effectively for an expansion of personal liberties in America.

Payal Garehgrat is native of Houston. She graduated from the University of Texas in May of 2006 with a degree in Finance/Business Honors and a minor in Spanish. She is about to begin her second-year at Penn Law in the Fall. During her first year of law school she became particularly interested in the theories and laws underlying our criminal justice system, particularly in regards to sentencing and punishment. She is looking forward to using her dual degree to get a more grounded view of the law and applying it in practice and research after graduation.

Kendra Gentry has kept her ears to the streets and her pen to the pad. As a crime and education reporter, she has written more than 200 articles for the Bucks County Courier Times, a daily newspaper in suburban Philadelphia. A native of Kansas City, Mo., Kendra graduated cum laude from the University of Florida in 2006 with a B.S. in Journalism, specializing in newspaper reporting. During college, she completed internships with two New York Times newspapers. She was also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, recognized as a Chips Quinn Scholar and received awards from UF's journalism school for professional excellence. Kendra recently joined Criminal Justice Journalists, the first national organization for crime and court reporters. CJJ is also affiliated with the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology.

Rhiannon Haddad is currently pursuing a joint degree in Law and Criminology. Rhiannon graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005, earning a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology. As an undergrad she worked in the Neuropsychiatry Department at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, assisting in research concerning Schizophrenia, and both of her senior honors theses focused on modifying people’s perceptions of the mentally ill through the use of narrative. She has interned with the New York City Department of Investigation and for two summers at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. Rhiannon hopes to enter a career in criminal law or federal law enforcement after completing her graduate work.

Kathrin Hennig was born and raised in Germany. She graduated from Marburg University, Germany with a M.A. in Cultural Anthropology, American Studies, and Sociology. While spending the academic year of 2003/2004 as an exchange student at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, she attended a Criminology class that piqued her interest in the field and changed her outlook on life and her thoughts in regards to her career goals and expectations. She is especially interested in finding out more about the social causes of crime such as class inequality, gender, and ethnicity, as well as the influence that the media, drugs, and video games have in the development of today’s growing violence, which steps are taken to prevent violence, and how effective they are. Upon graduation she would be especially interested in participating in criminological research concerning this and other matters in an internationl forum.

Keisuke Hosaka is from Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from the University of California, Davis, Law School (LL.M.) in 2007 and received bachelor of law from the University of Tokyo, in 2002. While in the law school, he pursued a comparative study of police conduct in the United States and Japan. He is currently a police inspector with the National Police Agency of Japan. He also works for Community Safety Bureau as a member of their legal staff. He has worked on two projects while in the bureau: introducing a new system to track sex offenders, and amending of the Firearms and Sword Control law.

Jennifer Kirchner is originally from Portland, Maine. She graduated with honors from Syracuse University in 2006 with a B.A. in Policy Studies and Political Science. During her undergraduate experience she worked with the Office of Judicial Affairs on campus and studied abroad in Strasbourg, France her junior year. Jennifer also interned for U.S. Representative Tom Allen (ME-1) in both his district and DC offices, where she took a special interest in judicial policy. After graduation Jennifer joined a public relations firm in New York City. While living there she served as a volunteer with the Women's Prison Association. Jennifer would like to work in a policy-making capacity at the federal level after her graduation from Penn.

Damon Knauss hails from Macungie, Pennsylvania. He graduated cum laude, B.S. Political Science/Pre-Law, from the University of Scranton, and earned his M.A. in Political Science at Lehigh University. As an undergrad, he worked for two years for United States Senator Rick Santorum. During graduate school, he worked full time as a clerk for Senior Judge John P. Lavelle at the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas. In 2005, Damon was appointed the investigator for the Office of the Public Defender and earned his advanced certification from the NDIA in Washington, D.C., certifying him as an expert in criminal defense investigations. Damon would like to pursue a career in the courts and believes his education thus far in law and politics combined with a Penn degree in criminology will arm him with the necessary tools to become a change agent for criminal justice policies especially in the often forgot and under funded area of public defense.

The Honorable Matthew T. Mangino is a member of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole. He was appointed by Governor Ed Rendell and confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate on June 29, 2006. Mangino served two terms as the district attorney of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor of arts from Westminster College in 1985 and his juris doctor from Duquesne University in 1988. Mangino participated in the 1998 White House Conference on School Safety: Cause and Prevention of Youth Violence. He has published op-eds in The Washington Post, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Harrisburg Patriot-News and regularly in the Pennsylvania Law Weekly and Youngstown Vindicator.

Cherie Marcus is originally from Riverside, California. She earned 2 B.A.'s in Criminology, Law and Society and Political Science from the University of California, Irvine in 2004. During her undergraduate studies, Cherie was involved in Gamma Phi Beta, and was admitted to the Rho Lambda and Order of Omega Honor Societies. Since completion of her undergraduate work, Cherie has been employed at the University of California, Irvine in one of the on-campus housing departments, and has also continued working at a local private investigation firm. At the private investigation firm, Cherie has been able to observe the criminal justice system first hand. Admitted to the MS Criminology/MSW dual degree program, Cherie plans to identify crime prevention and research crime solution opportunities for 11-14 year old children.

Joshua Markman is from Voorhees, NJ, just over the bridge from Philadelphia. He is currently a senior undergraduate at Penn, submatriculating in the Masters of Science program in Criminology. His undergraduate major is Sociology, concentrating on the Sociology of Law and Deviance. Over the summer, He interned in the Legal Department of the Estee Lauder Companies Inc. where his focus was on Government Relations and Regulatory Law. After graduating from Penn in 2008 with a B.A. in Sociology and an M.S. in Criminology, he plans on attending law school.

Amanda Marzullo is pursuing a joint degree at Penn’s Law School, where she is a Public Interest Scholar in residence. She received her B.A. in Anthropology from New York University. During college she interned at the Fresh Air Fund, the Open Society Institute, and the U.S. State Department in Naples, Italy. After she graduated, she worked as a paralegal for the Capital Defender Office in New York for two years where she organized discovery for capital and non- capital first murder cases, investigated co-defendant This past summer, she interned for the Chambers Division of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanzania.

Elizabeth Meyer is from Washington, DC. She earned her B.A. in Classical Languages from Duke University in 2004. She is currently pursuing the M.S.W./M.S. Criminology dual-degree at Penn. After college, she worked as a paralegal for a white-collar defense firm. Her main interest is in juvenile justice advocacy and policy. Starting in the fall, she will be a graduate intern at the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia.

Caroline Nobo is from Lawrence, Kansas. She graduated in 2007 from Mount Holyoke College with a M.A. in Sociology. Her research with professors Richard Moran and Roland Chilton varied from death row exonorees to bias-based policing. She spent her summer working with the ASU Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety; continuing her research in law enforcement and racial profiling. During her undergrad career Caroline competed for Mt. Holyoke's national champion equestrian team and studied abroad in Ireland. This fall she is thrilled and honored to begin work with Karin Rhodes concerning domestic violence and family abuse intervention. Upon graduation in May 2008 she intends to receive her Ph.D. and then pursue a career with the FBI Behavioral Sciences. She's excited for Penn to broaden her criminology horizons and Philadelphia to do the same for her jazz skills.

Evelyn Nuñez was born and raised right across the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden, New Jersey. The first in her immediate family to graduate from college, she is a 2007 graduate from Rutgers University in Camden where she double-majored in Sociology and Criminal Justice and graduated magna cum laude. She is also a proud member of Phi Beta Kappa and Camden College of Arts and Sciences Anthenaeum Honor Society. As a sophomore, she obtained an internship with the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and is still currently working for the Community Partnership unit. For three consecutive summers, she has assisted the program coordinator of the Criminal Justice High School Internship. Evelyn is extremely excited to be a Criminology student and is looking forward to the unique and prestigious opportunity of studying at the University of Pennsylvania.

Andrea Nurko is originally from Easton , Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from The George Washington University in 2006. As an undergraduate, she majored in journalism with a minor in criminal justice and earned special honors for academic and professional achievement in journalism. She has interned for NBC’s Dateline, ABC-7 WJLA Investigative Team and wrote for the Palm Beach Post in addition to serving as section editor for the student newspaper. Since graduation, Andrea worked as the press secretary for a congressional candidate in Pennsylvania and more recently has been working as an intelligence analyst for a Department of Homeland Security task force that investigates money laundering in the New York area.

Amelia Peng is from Los Angeles, California. She graduated in 2007 from the University of Michigan with a B.A. degree in Psychology and Crime and Justice. During her undergraduate studies, Amelia worked as an assistant in research for an active Addiction Research Section at the University of Michigan's Department of Psychiatry. Amelia was also an active member of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology. After receiving her M.S. degree from Penn, she plans to pursue a career in federal law enforcement, hopefully with the FBI or DEA.

Rebecca Pfeffer was raised bi-coastally - first in San Diego , California and then in Brookline, Massachusetts . She graduated from Pitzer College in 2005 with a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology. After graduating, she moved back across the country to New York City , where she taught science to children with emotional disturbances or autism in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She earned her M.S. in Education in 2007 at Pace University through the New York City Teaching Fellows. In 2007, she and her students won first place in an NYC citywide contest for a mural they painted themed "Working Together We Can Clean Up Our World", which she truly believes. She is interested in early childhood and school-based crime prevention.

Samantha Salkin is from Florida. She graduated from the George Washington University last year and majored in Psychology and Criminal Justice. She worked for the National Center for Victims of Crimes (intern/volunteer) during her senior year, where her focus was on victim services. She also worked in a research lab for two years. The study focused on anxiety and depression in women and children. She is especially interested in the field of human behavior and victimology. She would like to research the impact on victims and their methods of recovery.

Kristin Schmidt is originally from Littleton, MA. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Colby College, in Waterville, ME in 2006. She has spent the last year working at Miss Porter's School, an all girls private boarding school in CT. She spent the year teaching psychology, working in the athletic office, and coaching soccer, skiing, and tennis. When not in class at Colby, she played competitively on the interscholastic soccer and tennis teams. During her junior year, she studied abroad in London, England. Her classes were specific to the law and justice systems of the United Kingdom. During her time at Colby she also enjoyed acting in the dinner theater, playing broomball, and acting as an RA. During January of her Junior year, she interned for the Littleton Police Department. She worked with them investigating robbery cases and sitting in on trials of drug dealers. She hopes to pursue a career in the DEA or FBI in the future.

Gregory Shapiro graduated from The University of Minnesota - Twin Cities May 2007 with a B.A. in Sociology in Law, Criminology, and Deviance and a minor in Psychology. He spent the last two years working for the Council on Crime and Justice on their 24-hour Crisis hotline giving victim support and also acting as a liaison between the Minneapolis Police and the City Attorney's office during the night-time hours. Gregory's research interests include crime prevention and victim justice -- in particular domestic and sexual violence. After graduating from Penn, Gregory hopes to put his knowledge to immediate use with a career in criminal law or federal law enforcement. He plans on pursuing a law degree as well in order to become more well versed in the fields of Criminology and Law. When not studying, Gregory's hobbies include origami, running, and delighting in the joys of international foods.

Josh Silverman was born and raised in Potomac, MD and Georgetown. He graduated with a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Miami, where he also played soccer. At Miami, he also studied abroad in Spain. Since graduation, he has worked at a private security firm in DC. His interest in criminology was always strong, but peaked after 9/11 and he hopes to pursue a job in the federal government, preferably within security, after Penn.

Kat Sweet was born and raised in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, a western suburb of Philadelphia. She graduated in 2005 from Harvard University with a BA in psychology. At Harvard, she competed in three NCAA national championship games with the women's ice hockey team, captaining the squad her senior year. After a brief stint playing professional hockey in Switzerland, she moved to Los Angeles where she further explored her interest in criminology. While her primary focus is federal law enforcement, she is excited about what other avenues of criminology Penn's masters program will reveal.

Meghan Toles is originally from Upland, California. She attended the University of California, Irvine, where she received a B.A. in Criminology, Law, and Society, and a B.A. in Psychology and Social Behavior in 2007. During her time at UC Irvine, she was employed by the UC Irvine Police Department and was one of the coordinators for the Community Service Officer Program, which provided safety and crime information to the campus as well as the safety escort program. She also interned for the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Transitional Drug Abuse Treatment Program in Long Beach, California during hersenior year, where she assisted in monitoring newly paroled offenders’ drug and alcohol treatment regimens. She spent much time traveling throughout Europe as she studied law and psychology in the Netherlands during her junior year. Her ultimate goal is to work as a field agent for a federal law enforcement agency.

Simone Weichselbaum is a staff reporter with the Philadelphia Daily News, where she has spent the last four years covering crime. Her work has led to a grand jury investigation into a funeral home suspected of illegally selling human tissue; exposed how youths in the juvenile probation system have committed murder while under the court's watch; and detailed the lives of teen crack dealers and why they are drawn to a culture of violence. Born and raised in Brooklyn , N.Y. , she received a BA in history from American University in Washington , D.C. , in 2003. As an undergrad, she interned as a reporter with the Washington Post, Newsday, and the Associated Press in London . Simone hopes to apply her graduate studies to crime reporting.

Bryan Yip hails from the tropical garden city of Singapore, which incidentally is not part of China. He graduated with First Class Honors from University College London, with an undergraduate major in Economics. While he was fortunate enough to be awarded a full scholarship by the Singapore Police Force in 2004 to pursue both his undergraduate and postgraduate degree, Bryan will be compelled to serve out the next 6 years of his life with the Singapore Police Force – which is, contrary to popular belief, something he is very much looking forward to.

Master of Arts

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Joanna Champney spent her childhood living in Germany, but she now considers Delaware home. She attended the University of Delaware, majoring in political science. While an undergraduate, she served as President of Mortar Board Sr. National Honor Society and was an editor for the Delaware Politics and Law Review. While a student, she interned as a correctional counselor at a maximum-security men’s prison, where she participated in the process of interviewing inmates and determining their appropriate security classifications and treatment plans. She also worked as a research assistant at Stand Up for what’s Right and Just (SURJ), a non-profit criminal justice reform agency in Delaware whose primary focus is repealing mandatory minimum drug sentencing. Her research interests include criminal procedure, prison culture, and ex-offender reentry into the community. After obtaining her masters degree from Penn, she hopes to pursue doctoral studies with the goal of becoming a researcher or professor. She and her husband have two beautiful children.

Laura Kane is from Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. She graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College in May 2007. She double majored in Mathematics and French. Her time at Bryn Mawr was spent focused on Bryn Mawr’s America Reads/America Counts tutoring program. After her first year as a tutor, Laura moved up to the position of student coordinator where she and three other students ran the program. Also during her time at school Laura held such positions as Junior and Senior Dorm Representative, Recycling Representative for two years, and Junior and Senior Major Representative for the Mathematics Department. This summer Laura spent her time at Bryn Mawr College researching the topic of Wavelets. She hopes to use the logic of math to better analyze and understand crime especially those crimes which occur within families.

Tatsuya Tamagawa is from Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from Kyoto University with a B.A. in Sociology in 2002. After passing the Japanese Government Public Service Senior A Class Examination, he got a position in the National Police Agency of Japan. Now he is an inspector. In the National Police Agency, he served as a policymaker and engaged mainly in designing the national plan for crime prevention and in lawmaking. He enrolled in the UPenn's Graduate Program in Criminology last year as a M.S. student. He took a Master's degree and received the Excellence in Applied Criminology Award. This year, he joins in the M.A. program and wants to deepen his understanding of evidence-based criminology. After graduation, he plans to engage in crime prevention in the National Police Agency again, putting his knowledge to immediate action.

Emily Turner is from Washington, DC. While working towards her B.A. in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, Emily spent the spring and summer of her junior year studying abroad in London where she worked with the Justice Research Consortium conducting randomized control trials of restorative justice conferences for serious violent and property crime cases in the London Crown Courts. This work was the subject of her honors thesis. Since graduating, Emily has worked in the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center where she has served as a research assistant on a variety of studies investigating prisoner reentry, domestic violence, prison sexual violence, and the relationship between community organizations and crime. She has also served as part of the Urban Institute's research partnership with the Washington DC Project Safe Neighborhoods violence reduction team. Emily is dual degree candidate working toward her J.D./M.A. in Criminology.

Sarah Weiss is a Senior Research Coordinator and Psychotherapist for the Center for Studies of Addiction at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine's Psychiatry Department. She has been at Penn for 3 years and involved on multiple NIDA and NIAAA grants that have focused on providing effective treatment approaches to individuals with addictions and the effect it has on recidivism. Sarah graduated from Muhlenberg College with a B.A. in psychology and then started her graduate work at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. At PCOM she earned an M.S. in Clinical and Counseling Health Psychology. While completing the M.S., she worked on OPTIONS in the Philadelphia Prison System as a therapist providing individual, group, and anger management sessions. Sarah's main interests are to continue a career in academia that focuses on holistic treatment approaches for individuals involved in the criminal justice system.

Ph.D.

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Theimann (Tim) Ackerson is a Research Project Manager in the School of Nursing at Penn. He graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Rochester and obtained a M.S.S.W. from Columbia University. He has had a variety of experiences as a Clinical Social Worker in treatment, administration and research. He was the Programs Coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections for 7 years prior to moving to Philadelphia 5 years ago. His research interests are in substance use, motivation for change, and how violence affects communities. His ultimate goal in pursuing a criminology degree is to become a better researcher. He is happily married, has 3 adult children and 2 grandchildren but misses northern New England.

Carla Cue was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, where here parents emigrated from Mexico. She graduated from Princeton University in 2004 with a degree in Sociology. While at Princeton, she studied abroad in Australia and wrote a thesis on police-community relations in the U.S. which attempted to explain the difference in attitudes of minorities and whites toward law enforcement by way of examining survey data to find if a particular group has more contact with the police than other groups. After graduation, Carla lived and worked in London for one year and then went on to receive her Master's degree in Criminology from the University of Oxford. Her Master's thesis, 'In Dire Straits? The Road to Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda', received a distinction honor. She hopes to continue research on restorative justice in Africa. In addition to research, Carla enjoys training for marathons and triathlons.

Marianna Gebhardt is from New Orleans, Louisiana. She graduated from Skidmore College with a joint degree in Psychology and English, and subsequently received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. While in law school, Marianna interned with the FBI, as well as a criminal court judge in the Southern District of New York. After graduating, she worked for two years in the psychology department of a biomedical research center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, managing a DOD-funded research project. For the past five years, Marianna also has performed research for a criminal law professor. She currently holds a full-time fellowship at Fordham University School of Law, for which she is participating in a research project analyzing trends in British statutory law.

Charlotte Gill was born and raised just outside London, England. She received her M.A. in Law and M.Phil in Criminology from Cambridge University, and worked on the Jerry Lee Center's restorative justice experiments in the U.K. She is currently working for the Campbell Crime and Justice Group as its Managing Editor, and is involved in conducting a randomized trial with the Philadelphia Adult Probation and Parole Department.

Syed Ejaz Hussain is a Senior Superintendent of Police in Pakistan with experience of working in almost all branches of the police department including investigations, prevention, intelligence, traffic, training, and administration after being recruited as an Assistant Superintendent of Police. During service, he earned many academic and professional distinctions. He graduated for his MBA from the University of Lancaster, UK as a Chevening scholar. He earned prime minister's award for outstanding performance on the motorway. He is currently following a portfolio career; working as Senior Superintendent of Police performing usual police functions of crime control and traffic management on 225 kms of motorway and also sharing his experiences with the trainee police officers of different ranks as a part time teacher and trainer in the National Police Academy and the Civil Services Academy of Pakistan. He is coming as a Fulbright Scholar to do research on the Police Culture in the light of social science philosophy of critical realism.

Wendy McClanahan is the Director of Research for Public/Private Ventures, a national non-profit organization located in Philadelphia, whose mission is to improve the effectiveness of social policies, programs and community initiatives, especially as they affect youth and young adults. She is the principal investigator of P/PV's evaluation of Philadelphia's Youth Violence Reduction Partnership, a multi-agency effort to reduce youth homicides in Philadelphia; Ready4Work demonstration, a national faith-based initiative designed to reduce recidivism among ex-prisoners; and manages a random assignment evaluation of America Works' ex-offender employment program. She holds a M.S. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University.

Melissa L. Meltzer holds graduate degrees in public health and criminal justice from the University of Texas and Sam Houston State University respectively. Ms. Meltzer is presently working on a longitudinal study investigating the resilience of maltreated and incarcerated youth and serves as a member of the board of directors of the Harris County (Texas) STAR Drug Courts.

Thomas J. Nestel, III is a 4th generation Philadelphia Police Officer. He has attained the rank of Staff Inspector and presently serves as the Commanding Officer of the Department's Intelligence element. He earned a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Chestnut Hill College with magna cum laude honors and an M.S. in Public Safety from St. Joseph's University with magna cum laude honors. Simultaneously, and while working full time, he earned an MS in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in National Security Studies from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Tom is married and the father of three children.

Benjamin Nordstrom received his doctorate in medicine from Dartmouth in 2001. In 2005, he graduated from the residency training program in psychiatry at Columbia University. He remained at Columbia and finished sub-specialty training in addiction psychiatry in 2007. While at Columbia he was a provider with the COPE program, which provides mental health care for the New York City Police Department. He is interested in the overlap between psychiatry and criminology, with particular interests in drug-related crime and adapting known drug treatments for criminal justice settings.

Meredith Rossner is a graduate of Penn who has worked in London on the Jerry Lee Center's restorative justice experiments with New Scotland Yard. Her dissertation will examine the re-entry of burglars and robbers who have been randomly assigned to meet with their victims in prison in restorative justice conferences.

Mamoru Suzuki holds a position as senior researcher at National Research Institute of Police Science in Japan. With over ten years experience at the nation's exclusive research organization for specialized forensic sciences and criminology, he has participated in various research projects concerning juvenile delinquency, offender profiling, and crime prevention. His major at the undergraduate level was behavioral sciences, with a concentration on field work studying social change of a rural community. His MA course was really time-consuming process because he enrolled as a part-time student, but he was conferred a master's degree with his thesis on fear of crime. He hopes to take a role as a bridge between Penn criminologists and Japanese criminologists in the near future.

Emily West is a graduate of Skidmore College and received her Master of Arts degree here at the University of Pennsylvania. She is pursuing a joint Ph.D. in Sociology and Criminology. Using data from the Philadelphia Educational Longitudinal Study (PELS) her dissertation focuses on various predictors of first and subsequent arrests between adolescence and early adulthood.

Daniel J. Woods is a graduate of the Universities of Virginia and Maryland. His Ph.D. dissertation examines the patterns and trajectories of offending in the Canberra Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE).

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