2026/2027
Scholarship Recipients
Abigail George
Abigail George is a MA student in criminal justice at John Jay College. She is deeply committed to advancing criminal and social justice through research, advocacy, and policy by investigating systemic disparities to advance evidence-based approaches to equity and justice. Her undergraduate research examined various aspects of post incarceration trauma for Black communities as well as racial inequities in higher education using both qualitative and quantitative methods. She aspires to build a career at the intersection of criminal justice and public policy, where she can help shape trauma-informed, equitable policies and practices that improve outcomes for marginalized communities.
Under the mentorship of Dr. Tyron Pope, Abigail’s research examines how punitive, incarceration-based interventions versus rehabilitative, community-centered approaches influence the mental and emotional health and long-term development of Black youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Using a mixed-methods approach that integrates policy analysis, thematic literature review, and quantitative analysis of racial disparities and juvenile justice trends, her research seeks to contribute to trauma-informed, culturally responsive juvenile justice reform that prioritizes healing, reintegration, equity, and the long-term well-being of justice-involved youth.
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Ali Hassan
Ali Hassan is a third-year law and society major at John Jay with a minor in english. He is interested in law, criminal justice, and the ways in which legal and social institutions shape communities. Ali is in the Apple Corps Program and a recipient of the 2025-2026 Carol Robles Román Scholarship. His academic and professional experiences include research, legal internships, and work with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. He plans to attend law school and pursue a career as a criminal defense attorney.
Under the mentorship of Dr. Ray Rosas, Ali’s research examines whether the term “Desi” is an appropriate way to describe South Asians and their diaspora. While the term is widely used as a collective identifier, its broadness can overlook the distinct cultures, religions, histories, and identities within South Asia. Inspired by discussions of “Latinx” and the relationship between language, inclusivity, and identity in his English 101 course at John Jay, Ali began exploring the complexities surrounding the term “Desi.” Now in his second year of research with the OSRC, he will shift his focus toward an examination of media coverage of the term as well as conduct qualitative interviews with South Asians to learn their understanding of the term. Through this research, Ali hopes to contribute to broader conversations about cultural representation, identity, and the language used to describe diverse communities while continuing to develop the research and analytical skills that will support his future legal education.
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Alia Burke
Alia Burke is a senior at John Jay pursuing a major in sociology with a minor in economics. After graduation, Alia plans to pursue a doctorate in sociology and conduct sociological research. Currently, Alia spends her free time biking around New York City, searching through bookstores, reading romance novels, and investigating sociological
frameworks. Alia is passionate about gaining a better understanding of societies and sociological ecosystems.
As this is Alia’s second year with the OSRC, her work is a continuation of the research around the rise of overconsumption and the relationship between consumers and environmental triggers (e.g., advertising, influencers, and closer agents of socialization). This year, her project will focus on the concept and execution of corporate social responsibility and investigate if there is a correlation between shopping with smaller businesses and a lesser interest in materialism. Alia plans to investigate the history and validity of corporate social responsibility in relation to overconsumption and environmental practices. at escapism. Alia also aims to highlight how consumers navigate the shopping world when businesses prioritize profit. The study will identify some of the underlying drivers of consumer behavior and obtain a better understanding of modern-day business practices.
Andrea Aponte Fermin
Andrea Aponte Fermin is a forensic psychology senior at John Jay College. As an international student and undergraduate researcher, she is passionate about understanding how sociocultural and political contexts shape mental health outcomes among immigrant and Latinx populations. Her current research interests focus on immigration, acculturation, depression, anxiety, and psychological adaptation. Andrea aspires to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical/counseling psychology and build a career dedicated to advancing equitable mental health research and care for underserved communities.
Her research examines how living under an authoritarian political context shapes the mental health and civic engagement of Venezuelans. Specifically, understanding how pre-migration experiences (e.g., political instability, economic hardship, exposure to violence, and political repression) are associated with psychological outcomes (e.g., anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress) as well as political participation, perceived political freedom, and community engagement. By examining the intersection of sociopolitical experiences and psychological well-being, her research aims to show how authoritarian contexts continue to influence individuals beyond migration and contribute to the development of culturally informed research on immigrant mental health and civic engagement.
Annie Xiang Li
Annie Xiang Li is a junior at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Macaulay Honors student pursuing an integrated bachelor's–master's degree in forensic science with a minor in fraud examination. While at John Jay, she has conducted wet-lab research at Carbon Infuse, volunteered with the International Rescue Committee, and tutored incarcerated students through the Petey Greene Program.
In her first year with OSRC, Annie worked with Dr. Rebecca Weiss to evaluate whether large language models can translate mental health assessments as faithfully as a human translator. Using back-translations of the Chinese Beck Depression Inventory, her mixed-methods study asked blinded expert clinicians to distinguish AI translations from human ones and found they often could not, though they noted clinically, linguistically, and culturally meaningful differences in how depression symptom was conveyed across languages. She presented the findings at the 2026 APA Convention, Division 12. For her second year in OSRC, Annie aims to publish by extending this work into a peer-reviewed commentary, examining how language and cross-cultural translation shape whether AI can meaningfully support mental health care. Working with Dr. Weiss and a graduate-student collaborator, she plans to identify a target article, reserve the commentary with the journal's editor, and draft and submit it over the coming year, contributing her findings to the wider conversation on AI in mental health care.
Cordale Jimmison
Cordale Jimmison is a Macaulay Honors College student at John Jay College pursuing a BA in forensic psychology and a minor in biology. His research interests consist of forensic assessment and the psychological factors that influence patient health outcomes. Throughout the interdisciplinary research of neuropsychology and clinical medicine, he has presented at The American Psychology Law-Society (APLS) and American Psychology Association to contribute to projects examining performance validity testing, socio graphic barriers to treatment and health outcomes, as well as environment determinants of chronic diseases. Following graduation, Cordale plans to apply to dual Md/PhD graduate programs to further investigate the impact of translational research that bridges scientific discovery with equitable patient care.
Cordale’s current research evaluates the diagnostic accuracy of alternative scoring methods for the Dot Counting Test (DCT), a performance validity test commonly used in forensic and clinical neuropsychological evaluations. Building on findings presented at the American Psychology-Law Society, this project examines whether abbreviated and simplified scoring approaches maintain comparable classification accuracy across linguistically and culturally diverse populations while reducing scoring burden and opportunities for human error.
Cristina Nieves
Cristina Nieves is a third-year graduate student in the JD/MA dual degree forensic psychology master’s program at John Jay College and CUNY School of Law. She completed her undergraduate degree with the Macaulay Honors College at Queens College where she double majored in psychology and English. During Cristina’s first year of law school, she interned with the Latino Judge’s Association where she worked in various courts throughout New York State. Cristina has a CITI training certification and works as a research assistant in Dr. Katzman’s Racial Justice and Policing Research Lab. She aims to use her degrees to conduct tailored and integral research on the intersection between law and psychology. Cristina is looking forward to being a part of the OSRC community and becoming a more informed researcher.
Under the mentorship of Dr. Katzman, Cristina is researching judicial decision making when determining financial compensation awarded to exonerees, specifically as it relates to individuals who were wrongfully convicted due to false confessions. This research was inspired by the need for consistency and equity throughout the country when deciding judgements in favor of exonerees. Cristina believes that this research can be a useful tool for lawmakers and the judiciary to fairly compensate individuals who have fallen victim to the criminal justice system.
Danielle Key
Danielle Key double majors in sociology and criminology with double minors in psychology and community justice at John Jay College.She is a researcher, writer, and Black Feminist Abolitionist. Dani's research is in the fields of critical sociology, specifically Black feminist sociology; critical criminology, specifically Black feminist criminology; and queer criminology and the Black radical tradition. She uses a Black feminist lens to study Black people's lived experiences with oppression and Black people's resistance to oppression. Her projects have focused on Black women's (both cis and trans) lived experiences with the criminal legal system, sexual stereotypes that control Black women's sexuality, Black women's art as political resistance and collective belonging, and much more.
As a second-year OSRC Scholar, Dani is conducting a qualitative research study exploring system-impacted Black women's perspectives on Black feminist abolitionist ideologies. Through focus groups and individual interviews, the study examines how system-impacted Black women understand and imagine safety, justice, liberation, and freedom, as well as how their lived experiences with the criminal legal system and other forms of oppression in general shape these perspectives. By centering the knowledge and perspectives of system-impacted Black women, this project seeks to understand what abolition, safety, and justice can mean when they are defined by those who have directly experienced the harms of the carceral system.
Elizabeth Aiyedun
Elizabeth Aiyedun is a junior majoring in law and society. Born and raised in Nigeria, she is passionate about giving back to the community that raised her and continues to shape her. Known for her passion for justice from an early age, she was nicknamed ‘lawyer’. Elizabeth enjoys the vibrant student club environment at John Jay and is the treasurer of the Intervarsity Christian Student Fellowship (IVCF). She likes reading books, singing, listening to music, and has been playing the saxophone for four years. After graduating from John Jay, Elizabeth looks forward to attending law school. She inspires to be a criminal defense attorney and/or immigration lawyer. She also plans to do music in the future.
With continued mentorship from Dr. Ray Rosas, Elizabeth plans to continue researching immigration and deportation policies and their legal ramifications under the Trump administration. In last year’s research, she examined several court cases to assess the detrimental outcomes for immigrant populations. In her second year, she will explore the experiences of affected immigrants as well as evaluate legal and non-legal strategies that can be used to protect the constitutional rights of immigrants. Elizabeth is excited to continue working with her mentor, the OSRC team, and peers.
Ellie Papraniku
Ellie Papraniku is a senior at John Jay College pursuing a BA in political science with a minor in law. She is an aspiring attorney with a strong interest in criminal law and hopes to pursue a career as a prosecutor. Ellie has completed two internships with the Richmond County District Attorney's Office, where she gained experience in both the Criminal Court Bureau and the Trials Bureau. She also interned in the chambers of the Honorable Judge Desmond A. Green, where she observed judicial proceedings and developed a deeper understanding of courtroom practice. As Vice President of the John Jay Debate Club, Ellie enjoys surrounding herself with opportunities that emphasize critical thinking, interpretation, and persuasive writing.
Under the mentorship of Professor Rosa Squillacote, Ellie is exploring gender and pop culture through the lens of American Political Development, with the explicit aim of providing a coherent explanation to understand the current ‘tradwife’ phenomenon. Ellie is interested in uncovering the political implications of the appeal of the 'tradwife' phenomenon as society has evolved away from the restraints of traditional femininity. While some argue that conforming to the values of domestic duties and family care is fulfilling, critics argue that it is a manipulative mechanism to have women suppress their professional potential.
Emmanuel White
Emmanuel White is a second-year computer science student at John Jay College with growing interests in cybersecurity, networking, and network security research. His interest in cybersecurity began during his junior year of high school after watching a documentary about a cybersecurity incident and becoming fascinated by how someone with a computer could affect organizations on a large scale. His interest in networking grew after using Wireshark and seeing the packets traveling across his own network. Through his studies and research, Emmanuel hopes to continue developing his technical and research skills and eventually pursue a career in network security.
Emmanuel’s research examines how easily usernames and passwords can be exposed when they are sent across a network using older, unencrypted protocols. Using Wireshark, he will collect network traffic and study the patterns that appear when credentials are exposed. He will then investigate whether a machine learning model can learn these patterns and identify credential leakage across different protocols instead of requiring a separate detection method for each protocol. By studying whether machine learning can recognize credential exposure across multiple protocols, this research aims to better understand the potential and limitations of automated network security tools and their ability to detect insecure communications.
Genesis Diaz
Genesis Diaz is a junior majoring in forensic science at John Jay College. Genesis is eager to gain experience in her field and takes pride in participating in programs like PRISM and OSRC, which she believes will help her grow both academically and professionally. She is particularly interested in hands-on laboratory work, trace evidence and the instrumentation used to solve crimes as well as how other disciplines can be implemented to forensic science to address various types of crimes. In the future, Genesis hopes to work in a crime lab setting, contributing to research and the criminal justice system. In her free time, she enjoys journaling, doing arts and crafts, and taking walks around the city.
Under the mentorship of Profs. Nicolaides and Diaczuk, Genesis is exploring how materials characterization and multiple instrumentations can be used to analyze pigments for art authentication. Specifically, microscopy can be used to characterize different types of pigments based on their distinct characteristics like color and chemical composition. In her first year with the OSRC, she focused on building background context from previous studies. In her second year, she transitions to hands-on laboratory work to gather quantitative data using scientific methods and tools used to analyze paintings, highlighting parallels between authenticating art and solving criminal cases.
Grace Chester
Grace Chester is a second-year graduate student in the forensic psychology MA program. She earned her bachelor's degree from Elon University, where she double majored in psychology and music and minored in piano pedagogy. During her first year at John Jay, Grace served as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate psychology and law course, renewed her CITI certification for human subjects research, and joined two research labs led by Jacqueline Katzman and Charles Stone. Her research interests include eyewitness memory, confidence judgments, and bias in legal decision-making. Grace is excited to be part of the OSRC cohort and looks forward to learning more about other students’ research projects.
Under the mentorship of Dr. Katzman, Grace is conducting research on how people interpret verbal expressions of eyewitness confidence. The project examines whether factors such as crime type, eyewitness age, and the level of confidence expressed influence how these statements are understood. Although jurors often view eyewitness testimony as compelling evidence, research has shown that eyewitness memory can be vulnerable to error and bias. By improving our understanding of how confidence statements are interpreted, this research may help inform best practices for the presentation and evaluation of eyewitness evidence in legal settings.
Jiahe Chen
Jiahe Chen is an undergraduate student majoring in forensic psychology at John Jay College. Driven by a deep-seated passion for psychiatry and mental health, Jiahe is also an active advocate for LGBTQ+ healthcare equity, striving to research and implement solutions that protect and support underserved populations. Beyond their advocacy, Jiahe is deeply fascinated by the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, exploring how cutting-edge computational tools can revolutionize modern clinical diagnostics and treatments.
Under the mentorship of Professor Philip Yanos, Jiahe’s research focuses on capturing subtle linguistic nuances and patterns in psychiatric verbal data. By leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools, the project aims to evaluate whether data-driven machine learning models can accurately reconstruct and predict established clinical questionnaire scores. Ultimately, this work seeks to facilitate more precise, objective, and continuous diagnostic monitoring in clinical psychiatry.
Julia Hurynovich
Julia Hurynovich is a junior at the Macaulay Honors College at John Jay, majoring in forensic psychology. She is passionate about the experiences of children in the criminal justice system, and the abundance of ways that existing systems affect their treatment in both psychology and medical contexts. Julia hopes that her research will give her a better understanding of these ideas, preparing her for a career in child abuse pediatrics.
Her current research focuses on suggestibility in child play therapy. In her second year at the OSRC, Julia will begin collecting, reporting, and analyzing data using the materials she developed last academic year, which aim to understand to what degree participants can identify and distinguish degrees of suggestibility between varying vignettes specific to this therapy practice. In doing so, her project will ultimately evaluate the extent to which mock jurors can recognize child play therapy as suggestive, with the goal of generating greater insight into whether professional testimony is necessary to educate jurors about this issue in court.
Lucia Palumbo
Lucia Palumbo is a senior majoring in forensic psychology with a minor in gender studies. With a passion in both clinical research and psychological testing, after graduating with her BA in Forensic Psychology, Lucia will be working toward getting her doctorate in clinical psychology and working in hospitals, spearheading her own research studies as well as performing psychological assessments. In her free time, Lucia enjoys reading and spending time with her friends and partner. She is passionate about learning how the drives and motivations of individuals are developed and hopes to study this in the near future.
This is Lucia’s first year in the OSRC program, and she will be working alongside Professor Maria Hartwig to replicate/expand on a study created in 2018. This study explores a juror’s attitude toward a suspect telling lies in court versus a suspect confessing to a crime in court. The study aims to assist in understanding the impact lies in a juror’s judgement might have on other evidence presented in a case. The study will focus on confrontational interrogations and investigative interviews, dissecting their similarities and differences. A reduction of false confessions could reduce wrongful convictions as well as decrease coercion used in police interviewing.
Mackenzie Adams
Mackenzie Adams is a senior majoring in law & society at John Jay College and a U.S. Navy veteran. Before coming to John Jay, she spent more than a decade working in public affairs and communications for federal agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Through her professional experience, Mackenzie developed a strong interest in how public policy is translated into practice and how institutions can better serve their communities. Her academic interests include criminal justice reform, reentry, trauma-informed approaches to justice, and community-based interventions. Following graduation, she plans to attend law school.
Under the mentorship of Professor Jamie Longazel, Mackenzie’s research examines how community-based therapeutic horticulture programs support individuals impacted by the criminal legal system during reentry. Partnering with The Horticultural Society of New York (The Hort), she will use participant observation to explore the experiences of program participants, staff members, and probation officers. The project investigates how therapeutic horticulture may foster wellbeing, social connectedness, routine, and personal growth while encouraging broader measures of success beyond recidivism. By centering the lived experiences of those involved in the program, this research seeks to contribute to ongoing conversations about holistic approaches to reentry.
Sofia Minet
Sofia Minet is a second-year graduate student in the forensic psychology master’s program at John Jay College. She completed her undergraduate studies at Binghamton University where she majored in psychology and first became interested in forensic psychology. She is interested in wrongful convictions, eyewitness identifications, and plea bargaining, and would like to work to improve both procedures involved in the legal system and the lives of those involved as well. Currently, she is a research assistant in Dr. Jacqueline Katzman’s Racial Justice & Policing Lab and Dr. Kelly McWilliams’ Children and the Law Lab.
Under Dr. Katzman’s mentorship, Sofia is working on a project examining plea bargaining and how lawyers and law students make decisions. Specifically, she is interested in seeing if lawyers and law students think alike and how certain variables influence lawyer and law student decision making regarding plea recommendations. This research aims to improve upon the methodological challenges psychology researchers face when recruiting from a specific population (i.e. lawyers) and has potential implications for public policy and social justice as well