KEY PROJECT PERSONNEL

• Meet the Research Team

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR / PROJECT DIRECTOR
  Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut is the executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government. She is a national expert on mass shootings, a topic which she has researched for more than 15 years. Since 2017, Schildkraut has conducted research with mass shooting survivors to better understand their experiences and resource needs in the aftermath of the tragedy. The initial phases of the project involved qualitative interviews with more than 40 survivors and resiliency center directors from various communities impacted by mass shootings in the United States. This work yielded a book chapter and journal article to date with additional publications planned. Schildkraut also provided expert testimony based on this research to Canada’s Mass Casualty Commission, tasked with investigating the April 2020 incident in Nova Scotia, as well as a commissioned report about how best to support survivors and communities in the aftermath of mass shootings. She received her PhD in criminal justice from Texas State University and worked as an associate professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego prior to joining the Rockefeller Institute full-time.

  PROJECT CONSULTANT
  Dr. Rebecca Cowan is a PhD-level licensed professional counselor with over 15 years of experience within the mental health field. She owns a mental health practice in Virginia and has expertise in treating survivors of crisis and trauma using a trauma-informed integrative approach. Through her work as a disaster mental health supervisor with the American Red Cross, Cowan has responded to several mass shootings, including the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, NV, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Cowan also is a core faculty member in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Walden University and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at Old Dominion University. She has authored several peer-reviewed articles on mass shootings and served as a gubernatorial appointee on the Commission to Investigate the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach Mass Shooting. She received her PhD from Old Dominion University and is currently pursuing an additional master of science degree in forensic psychology/terrorism.

Jaclyn Schildkraut

Principal Investigator,
Rockefeller Institute of Government

Rebecca Cowan

Project Consultant,
Walden University

• Meet the Advisory Board

  This research also is supported by a multidisciplinary advisory board, who provide input on the survey design, results, and ultimate policy recommendations. The advisory board members reflect a range of disciplines in academia as well as practitioners who have direct experience working with survivors. Further, to ensure the experiences of those affected by mass shootings are accurately captured, two survivors sit on the advisory board.

  Current advisory board membership includes the following individuals:

  Dr. Jillian Turanovic is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and a fellow in the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University Colorado Boulder. She has an active research agenda rooted firmly in identifying the sources and consequences of serious violence and victimization. She is the author of Confronting School Violence: A Synthesis of Six Decades of Research (Cambridge University Press, 2022), Thinking About Victimization: Context and Consequences (Routledge, 2019), as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles that have been published in journals such as Criminology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Journal of Pediatrics, Journal of Research on Adolescence, and Journal of School Violence. Turanovic recently led and completed a data collection effort to identify deadly mass shootings in the US dating back to 1980, funded by the National Institute of Justice. She has extensive experience with victim services and has helped to developed programming to address the needs of survivors of complex homicide in Palm Beach County, Florida. In addition to her research on violence and victimization, Turanovic has testified to the Florida State Senate on issues of mass violence and has provided national webinars in collaboration with the National Institute of Justice and the Center for Victim Research on topics of school violence and mass shootings.

  Dr. Anthony Mancini is an associate professor of psychology at Pace University. He is a clinical psychologist who studies loss, trauma, and stressful life events. He has published extensively in the field of psychological resilience, individual differences in responses to stress, and the role of social processes in adaptation. His work has examined events as varied as the Virginia Tech campus shootings, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, military deployment, traumatic injury, bereavement, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Mancini has methodological expertise in longitudinal trajectory methods, network analysis, meta-analysis, and qualitative research approaches. He currently serves as the chief editor of Anxiety, Stress & Coping, a Taylor & Francis journal. He has published over 60 journal articles and book chapters, and his work has also been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Desert News, the Mercury News, and other outlets.

  Krista R. Flanagan is co-director of the Crime Victim Research and Policy Institute at Florida State University. She is an attorney, educator, and victim advocate experienced in emergency response and management, media relations, community collaboration and program development. She responds to incidents of mass violence and terrorism around the country assisting in the immediate aftermath as well as supporting communities in establishing long-term services for those impacted by the incidents. In addition, Flanagan was part of a team that created a national resource e-toolkit for a coordinated victim service response to incidents of mass violence and terrorism. She also works with communities and universities to develop victim response plans to incidents of mass violence and terrorism. Flanagan also has vast experience providing training to attorneys, law enforcement, victim advocates, mental health professionals and educators regarding a variety of issues, including trauma informed care and intervention with victims of mass violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault. She has trained nationally on coordinated community response for victims of mass tragedy, high-profile trials as well as on the impact of mass tragedy on victims and communities.

  Amanda Crawford is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut. Her current research focuses on misinformation surrounding mass shootings and other high-profile crimes. An investigative reporter and literary journalist, Crawford is writing a nonfiction trade book that follows the fight for truth in the decade following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Related articles have been published by Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Conversation, Salon, Talking Points Memo, The Miami Herald, Boston Globe Magazine, and other outlets. This research, which includes examining the media’s role and the impact on survivors, builds off Crawford’s background as a reporter who covered several mass shootings and wrote extensively about gun policy. Crawford previously worked for Bloomberg News, The Arizona Republic, and the Baltimore Sun, and she has been widely published in a variety of other major media outlets including Businessweek, People, and National Geographic.

  Dr. John Nicoletti is a board-certified specialist in police and public safety psychology at Nicoletti-Flater Associates. He has more than 40 years’ experience providing services to state, local, and national law enforcement agencies and government entities. In addition to police psychology, he specializes in identifying, assessing and defusing attack related behaviors, workplace violence prevention, and trauma recovery. Nicoletti works with numerous agencies on developing protocols and threat management for insider threats of violence. He has written three books and numerous articles in the areas of violence and has provided on-site assistance in the trauma recovery for various mass casualty events, including Columbine High School (1999), Platte Canyon High School (2006), Virginia Tech (2007), Aurora (2012), and Arapahoe High School (2013). Nicoletti is the recipient of a grant from the Department of Homeland Security focused on preventing targeted violence and radicalization (2021) and serves as an invited participant on a committee with the International Association of Chiefs of Police focused on responding to mass violence incidents.

  George Brauchler is district attorney for Colorado’s 23rd Judicial District. He previously served as the district attorney for the counties of Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln, serving 1.1 million Coloradans. During his more than 27 years as a litigator, he took nearly 200 trials to verdict in state, federal, and military courts. Among the cases he prosecuted were the Columbine High School mass shooting, and the trials of the perpetrator of the 2012 mass shooting at an Aurora movie (Batman) theater and the 2019 shooting at STEM School in Highlands Ranch, a role which required him to regularly work with victims’ families, survivors, and community members. Brauchler further has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Denver College of Law, Colorado Law, and the JAG schools for both the US Army and US Navy. Brauchler continues to speak nationwide about his experience prosecuting mass shooters.

  Elizabeth Cronin is the associate academic program director at the National Mass Violence Center and former director of the New York State Office for Victim Services. She was appointed to the directorship in 2013 by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. In addition, Cronin was a special victim’s prosecutor and is a published author and frequent public speaker on legal and administrative topics, including prosecuting domestic violence cases, immigration law, and evidence, among others.

  Sherrie Lawson is a survivor of the 2013 shooting at Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC. Through her healing journey following the September 16, 2013, shooting, Lawson became passionate about supporting others that also suffer from the “invisible wounds’ of trauma. She joined The Rebels Project (TRP) as a member in 2014 and joined the TRP leadership team in 2016. After spending 15 years in Washington, DC, and returning home to her native North Carolina for two years, she relocated to Denver, Colorado, to become even more involved in the TRP mission of providing support for survivors of mass tragedy. Lawson currently volunteers as director of operations for TRP. In addition to her work with TRP, she is a manager at a Denver-based nonprofit and lectures at the University of Colorado-Denver.

  Shawn Aitken was a responding SWAT officer at the 2019 shooting in Virginia Beach, Virginia. At the time of the mass shooting, Aitken had 25 years of service as a police officer and was a SWAT Team member for 13 years. He previously had no interest in mental health or understanding of wellness-related concepts. The shooting’s impact drastically changed his view on the need for mental health awareness and practices for himself and his peers. His journey started with a hard look inward and how the shooting had a damaging impact on his own relationships. As a first responder, he also has a vested interest in the well-being of victims of mass shooting and targeted violence.

  Michael Megaro is patrol sergeant for the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is a decorated veteran police officer for the City of Virginia Beach. With 23+ years experience as a law enforcement officer, he has worked in several aspects including CIT instructor/faculty, patrol, SWAT, traffic, fugitive detective, and currently assigned as a patrol sergeant. Additionally, he served as a member of the United States Army (SOCOM) and is a trained paramedic. After responding to the 2019 shooting at the City’s municipal complex, Sgt. Megaro began experiencing posttraumatic stress, ultimately seeking help to deal with the experience of the tragedy. He now advocates for other first responders who respond to similar tragedies.

Dr. Jillian Turanovic

Associate Professor of Sociology and Fellow at the Institute of Behavioral Science,
University of Colorado Boulder

Dr. Anthony Mancini

Associate Professor of Psychology,
Pace University

Krista R. Flanagan

Co-Director of the Crime Victim Research and Policy Institute,
Florida State University

Amanda Crawford

Assistant Professor of Journalism,
University of Connecticut

Dr. John Nicoletti

Board-Certified Specialist in Police and Public Safety Psychology,
Nicoletti-Flater Associates

George Brauchler

District Attorney,
Colorado’s 23rd District

Elizabeth Cronin

Associate Academic Program Director, National Mass Violence Center and Former Director of the Office for Victim Services,
New York State

Sherrie Lawson

Survivor of the 2013 shooting at Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC

Shawn Aitken

Responding SWAT Officer at the 2019 shooting in Virginia Beach, VA

Michael Megaro

Patrol Sergeant for the City of Virginia Beach, VA

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