About me
Doctoral Candidate - Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice
Research Associate - National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, & Education (NCITE) Center, University of Nebraska - Omaha
I am currently a Predoctoral Research Associate at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, & Education (NCITE) Center, and a doctoral candidate (ABD) at Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice. I am also a fellow at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacy and RSAC Security Scholar.
My research focuses on extremism, extremists’ use of the Internet, online subcultures, and bias-motivated crimes. I use subcultural approaches to better understand individual exposure to extremist content, pathways to engagement, and methods of engagement within online extremist spaces. As a researcher, I have an additional interest in the role of gender within extremist movements, and have done work focusing on misogynist group and far-right extremism.
Much of my work to date has examined affordances of the Internet and the role it plays in radicalization and subcultural engagement. My overarching goal is to conduct research that contributes to our collective understanding of Internet facilitation of deviant and criminal behaviors, as well as how our knowledge of individual and group behavior within online extremist spaces can support the development of intervention and disengagement initiatives. I aim to cultivate a deeper understanding of how these mechanisms manifest online and across digital modalities, as well as how this understanding can be leveraged to prevent offline harms and extremism.
Currently, I am researching how gender dynamics influence individual engagement in extremist movements, as well as the trajectory of extremist ideology and violent action. My recent work has appeared in the Journal of Crime and Justice, Deviant Behavior, Sociological Focus, and in Critical Criminology; as well as the VOX-Pol Network of Excellence Blog and Global Network on Extremism & Terrorism (GNET) Insights.
Research Interests
Ideological extremism
Extremists’ use of online spaces
Hate and bias crimes
Gender/Sexuality
Social network analysis
Online subcultures
Fellowships
Fellow at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism (IRMS)
RSAC Security Scholar (2023)
