Maria joined the faculty of the Department of Criminology and Justice in 2024 after earning her Ph.D in Criminal Justice from The Graduate Center and John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) in New York City. Maria’s research focuses on informal social control and vulnerability management in public spaces and transportation systems, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods. Her previous work applied social network analysis to explore the distribution of crime within the New York City subway system and used discourse analysis to examine how public communication campaigns aim to raise awareness and manage informal social control in the complex environment of the subway. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Language and Politics and Society.
Classes Taught
. Criminology
. Understanding Criminal Behavior
. Crime Prevention and Control
. Introduction to Sociology
. Capstone Seminar International Criminal Justice (mentor)
. Research Design and Methods
. Advanced Sociological Methods (focus on qualitative methods)
. Quantitative Inquiry (Statistics)