I am an Associate Professor of Public Policy in the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, after previous faculty appointments at Florida State University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Georgia (UGA), as well as administrative appointments at UGA and Vanderbilt.  My research centers on issues related to demographic diversity, local law enforcement, and public governance, with special attention devoted tothe co-production of public safety and public order. I am interested in understanding how the assorted experiences and perceptions of officers and members of the public affect the formation and functioning of their working partnerships to understand and mitigate or address community problems. I am currently involved in research projects that study how law enforcement professionals experience and manage work related trauma that they encounter during their daily routine.  

I am the author of Citizen Perspectives on Community Policing: A Case Study in Athens, GA(State University of New York Press) and have published in leading journals in public administration, public management, community psychology, education, and police studies. My research and engagement efforts have resulted in an appointment to serve on the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Trust Advisory Board as well as invitations to speak or participate in various gatherings, including the National Policy Summit on Community-Police Relations hosted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in 2014; the Trending Issues in Policing Summit hosted by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in 2016; the Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Agencies Program Development Roundtable hosted by the National Institute of Justice in 2016;  the Kettering Foundation’s Research Day in February of 2017; the Expert Review Panel for the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) Survey hosted by United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2018; and the 50thAnniversary of the Minnowbrook Conference hosted by Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 2018.