Criminology faculty from the Department of Sociology and Criminology were awarded $343,163 by the National Science Foundation for their multi-year project titled, "Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) Site: Connecting Research to Practice in Crime Analytics."

The REU site will welcome undergraduate students to the  of A to learn innovative approaches in crime analysis, starting in the summer of 2024. Educational and professional development opportunities will be provided through hands-on, data-to-practice research experiences, one-to-one student mentorship, training in social data analysis, writing workshops and student-led projects on issues of terrorism, hate crime, and communities and crime.

The REU seeks to train social scientists broadly, highlighting the importance of research and crime analytics for diverse groups in criminal justice and criminology programs. The knowledge and skills gained during the REU will ultimately be transferable to students' home institutions, graduate schools, communities and the workforce. 

Faculty members from across the university representing several disciplines will join the program, including Jeff Gruenewald, Casey Harris, Grant Drawve from criminology, Kayla Allison, Michael Nino from sociology, Samantha Robinson from mathematical sciences, Ed Pohl from industrial engineering and Suzanne Kucharczyk from education. Along with the faculty members from the U of A, numerous university centers and organizations will assist throughout the summer program, such as the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies and Library Services.

Beyond the U of A, there are additional external faculty members from external institutions who will speak on their research, career and any tips/tricks they have learned along the way. Additionally, to better connect research to practice, the REU participants will interact with people from agencies and companies who use data in their daily activities, such as Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), Tyler Technologies, ESRI and Walmart Global Security. To this point, Harris added, "As data science continues to grow on campus, connecting students with real-world data and practitioners is key in the development of translational research." 

Drawve, associate director of the Crime and Data Analytics Lab (CASDAL), will serve as principal investigator for the project. The lab was created in 2020 to meet the analytic needs of students, faculty and external partners by providing space for research projects relating to crime and security issues, and to meet the growing demand for crime analysts to fill positions across government agencies and private corporations.

Drawve said, "This new REU site is an opportunity for us to make our training programs in crime and data analysis available to more students representing diverse and underrepresented backgrounds from Arkansas and across the country."    

REU students will also engage with existing educational and research programs in the Terrorism Research Center, which houses multiple, ongoing terrorism, domestic violent extremism and hate crime databases. The center has implemented hundreds of research internships for U of A students over the last 20 years.

Gruenewald, director of the Terrorism Research Center, will serve as co-PI for the REU site. He said, "We look forward to welcoming new cohorts of aspiring criminologists from universities and colleges across the country to Northwest Arkansas over the next few summers. In addition to tackling some of society's most serious problems, we hope to help students make lasting connections and sources of support as they continue their academic and professional journeys."  

The Department of Sociology and Criminology offers three degree programs and four student organizations; affiliation with three research units: the Center for Social Research, the Community and Family Institute and the Terrorism Research Center; and research emphases in community, crime, health and well-being, and social data analytics.  

The Terrorism Research Center has been housed in the Department of Sociology and Criminology since 2003. Its areas of research include individual and community risk factors for radicalization to terrorism, prosecutorial and defense strategies in federal terrorism court cases, bias-motivated violence, and legal responses to cases of human trafficking. In 2020, the U of A's Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences also supported the creation of the TRC's Crime and Security Data Analytics Lab (CASDAL), to meet the analytic needs of students, faculty and external partners by providing space for research projects relating to crime and security issues.