CURRENT GRADUATE STUDENTS
Erica Dalzell, M.S., is currently working towards her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University. In addition to assisting the Juvenile Risk Assessment Team, Erica works with Public Policy Associates Inc., to study disproportionate minority contact in Michigan’s Juvenile Justice system, and as a graduate Research Assistant to Dr. Cavanagh. Her
primary research interests include juvenile justice, the law, and behavior. Email: dalzelle@msu.edu
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Jordan Parker (he/him) is a first-year doctoral student in the School of Criminal Justice. Jordan obtained both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Criminal Justice at Bowling Green State University. His primary research interests include juvenile justice and delinquency, social/racial disparities with the criminal and juvenile justice systems, and victimization. Email: parke600@msu.edu
Alyssa (Fredericks) LaBerge, M.S., is a third-year doctoral student in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Her primary research interests include adolescent offending, juvenile sentencing and corrections practices, familial relationships, and the outcomes of youth dually involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Email: frede197@msu.edu
Morgan Titus (she/her/hers), LLMSW, is a third-year doctoral student in the Human Development and Family Studies Department, with a concentration in Couple and Family Therapy. Her main scholarly interests include complex trauma, sex trafficking, familial relationships, and systemic interventions. Email: Titusmor@msu.edu
Kismet Okyere is a first-year Masters student in the School of Criminal Justice. Email: okyerean@msu.edu
Amanda R. Witwer is a third-year doctoral student in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Her research interests center around court system policy and use of technology. She supports the Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS) program at the Ingham County 30th Circuit Court—Family Division. Email: witweram@msu.edu
Ashtaan Rapanos is a first-year Master of Public Policy student at Michigan State University. Her research interests include the intersection of mental health and juvenile justice, education and incarceration, and socioeconomic/ racial disparities in criminal justice systems. Email: rapanos2@msu.edu
Natasha Chlebuch (Tash) is a first-year doctoral student in the School of Criminal Justice. She earned her B.A. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania before serving as a Youth and Family Advocate at the Montgomery County Youth Center. Tash served as the lab manager of the Scientific Thinking and Representation (STAR) Lab at Villanova University prior to being hired as the department administrator for the philosophy department at Penn. Her research aims to understand the collateral consequences of juvenile incarceration for adjudicated adolescents, their families, and their communities. Email: chlebuch@msu.edu
Mary "Maggie" McConnaha is a doctoral student in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. She is broadly interested in juvenile justice, teacher education and professional development, and literacy. She has been supporting the teachers at the local youth detention center since January 2023. You can read her most recent work in the Language Arts of Journal of Michigan and on the educational online magazine, EdWeek. Email: mcconnah@msu.edu
PROSPECTIVE GRADUATE STUDENTS
Dr. Cavanagh plans to accept incoming graduate student advisees for 2024-2025. Students interested in graduate mentorship under Dr. Cavanagh at the masters or doctoral level are encouraged to apply to the MSU School of Criminal Justice, a top-ranked program offering Masters degrees and Doctorates in criminal justice.
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Students in many other disciplines (e.g., psychology, human development and family studies, sociology, social work, public policy, political science, education) are also welcome to join the lab.
For information about grad student life at MSU or in the lab, please contact any one of Dr. Cavanagh's current graduate students.
GRADUATE STUDENT ALUMNI
Dr. Roberta (Birdy) Liggett O'Malley was a doctoral student in the ADJust Lab from 2019-2021. She earned her PhD in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University in 2021. She is currently an Assistant Professor a the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee Department of Criminology.
Dr. Erinn Acland was a visiting doctoral scholar in the ADJust lab during 2020 as part of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Graduate Scholarship-Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements Program (NSERC CGS-MSFSS). She earned her PhD from the University of Toronto in December 2020. She is currently a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral fellow.
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Dr. MK Kitzmiller was a doctoral student in the ADJust Lab from 2017-2022. She earned her PhD in Community Psychology from Michigan State University in 2022. She is currently a Research Fellow with the New York City Criminal Justice Agency (CJA). She provides analytic support for the Atlas Initiative, a voluntary therapeutic service under the umbrella of bail reform that serves as an alternative to pretrial detention.
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Mina Lee was a doctoral student in the ADJust Lab from 2022-2023. She currently lives and works as a data analyst in South Korea.
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Dr. Jen Paruk was a doctoral student in the ADJust Lab from 2018-2023. She earned her PhD in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University in 2023. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University.
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