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Our people

Law and Science Dissertation Grant

Leadership

Scott Barclay

Principal investigator

Professor Barclay, the PI of this project, recently served as a Program Director in the Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation. His ongoing research project explores the interplay of political, demographic and social movement factors that influence the deployment of law. His research has been published in Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, Political Research Quarterly, Perspectives on Politics and Law and Policy. His research findings have been directly referenced in the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation and his research has been supported by private foundations.


Brian Bornstein

Co-principal investigator

Research Professor Bornstein, the Co-PI of this project, served as Program Officer for the Law and Social Sciences Program at the National Science Foundation prior to joining the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at ASU. His research focuses mainly on the reliability of eyewitness memory and how juries make decisions. He has more than 200 publications in his areas of expertise, as well as 21 authored or edited books, and has procured more than $3 million in external funding, from agencies like NSF and NIJ. He has taught a variety of courses within cognitive, social, and legal psychology, as well as the history of psychology.


Rebecca Sandefur

Co-principal investigator

Professor Sandefur, the Co-PI of this project, has extensive experience with NSF as an awardee, reviewer, and panelist. Her research investigates access to civil justice from every angle -- from how legal services are delivered and consumed, to how civil legal aid is organized around the nation, to the role of pro bono, to the relative efficacy of lawyers, nonlawyers and digital tools as advisers and representatives, to how ordinary people think about their justice problems and try to resolve them. In addition to her appointment at ASU, Sandefur is Faculty Fellow at the American Bar Foundation, where she founded and leads the Access to Justice Research Initiative.


Trevor Morris

Graduate research assistant

My name is Trevor Morris and I am a law and psychology doctoral student from Dallas, Texas. I received my BA in psychology and my BA in criminology and law studies at Marquette University in the spring of 2023. My research interests are focused on positive youth development for juveniles, and treatment and preventative programs for the mental health of the youth who are impacted by the justice system. A fun fact about me is that I was on the curling and powerlifting team during my time at Marquette.

Advisory Council

Jennifer Cobbina-Dungy, Michigan State University: School of Criminal Justice

Keith Guzik, University of Colorado-Denver: Department of Sociology

Sarah Lageson, Rutgers University: School of Criminal Justice

Ineke Marshall, Northeastern University: Department of Sociology and Anthropology; School of Criminology & Criminal Justice

Krystia Reed, The University of Texas at El Paso: Department of Psychology.

Michele Statz, University of Minnesota: Law School; Medical School

John Szmer, University of North Carolina-Charlotte: Department of Political Science and Public Administration

Stacy Wetmore, Butler University: Department of Psychology
 

Former advisory council members

Monica Bell, Yale University: Law School; Department of Sociology

Susan Bibler Coutin, University of California Irvine: Department of Law and Society; Anthropology

Sarah Brayne, University of Texas-Austin (now at Stanford University): Department of Sociology    

Mark Massoud, University of California-Santa Cruz: Department of Politics; Legal Studies Program

Mary Nell Trautner, University at Buffalo, SUNY: Department of Sociology and Criminology

Miko Wilford, Iowa State University: Department of Psychology