Our Staff

Susan Smith Howley, J.D.

Acting Executive Director
showley@jirn.org
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Chalachew Alemu, M.S.

Senior Grant Accountant
calemu@jirn.org
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Jason Trask, M.S.

Senior Program Associate
jtrask@jirn.org
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Chalachew Alemu, M.S.

Senior Grant Accountant

Chalachew Alemu joined JIRN staff in January 2019 as a Senior Grant Accountant. He is responsible for all activities related to the management of Federal-funded grants. He received his Master’s of Science in Accounting & Finance from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Before joining JIRN, Chalachew was a manager at a nonprofit accounting consulting firm that dealt with federal government contracts and business organizations. Chalechew has over 15 years of experience in Accounting & Finance. His experience includes serving as a board of directors member for a credit association and a commercial bank and as an instructor for undergraduate accounting and financial management courses.

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Katrina Cole, Ph.D.

Research Analyst

Katrina Cole joined JIRN in May 2023 as a Research Analyst. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in 2023 and her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from San Diego State University in 2017. Prior to joining JIRN, she served as a research assistant on multiple U.S. State Department-funded studies to estimate the prevalence of forced labor and human trafficking in different industries in Morocco, Tunisia, and Vietnam. Her past research has focused on sentencing and recidivism of individuals convicted of sexual offenses, the association between sex buying and sexual violence, and public opinion of criminal justice policies related to the commercial sex industry.

Methodologies: Survey design, quantitative analysis, data coding and transformation, multilevel modeling, statistical graphics

Research areas: Sexual violence, sex work, human trafficking, courts and sentencing, public opinion, public policy, prevention

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Audrey Fleming

Director of Finance

Audrey Fleming joined the JIRN staff in October 2016. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business with an Accounting Concentration from Strayer University. She is responsible for managing all aspects of the financial and administrative operations of the JIRN. She supports JIRN’s Executive Director in strategizing a path for the Association’s Financial health. Prior to joining JIRN, Audrey worked as an Accounting Manager at the Alliance for Academic and Internal Medicine (AAIM), a non-profit association.

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Susan Smith Howley, J.D.

Acting Executive Director

Susan Smith Howley joined the JIRN staff in October 2017, becoming the Project Director for the Center for Victim Research. Prior to coming to JIRN, Susan was Director of Public Policy for the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC). She has more than twenty-eight years of experience with crime victims issues, including analyzing federal and state legislation regarding the rights and interests of crime victims, exploring the capacity of the crime victim services field and identifying needed areas of improvement, exploring the integration of research and practice in victim services and developing recommendations to foster that integration. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Expertise: Victims & victimization

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Diba Rouzbahani, Ph.D.

Research Analyst

Diba Rouzbahani joined JIRN in May 2023 as Research Analyst. She holds a Master’s of Arts from Rutgers University and is pursuing her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at the John Jay College-Graduate Center (CUNY). Before her role at JIRN, Diba held research positions in diverse sectors, including nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, and academia. Most Recently, she worked as a graduate research associate at Arnold Ventures.

Methodologies: Time series analysis, discourse analysis, spatial analysis, mixed methods, and storytelling through visualization.

Research areas: Pretrial justice, punishment and inequality, policy and program evaluation, and jail trends.

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Alexa Singer, Ph.D.

Research Associate

Alexa Singer joined JIRN in June 2023 as a Research Associate. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminology Justice from Florida State University in 2019. Prior to joining JIRN, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Western Carolina University. Her research focuses on local jail related issues, including jail reentry and behavioral health concerns faced by jail detainees including mental health conditions and substance use disorders. In addition to jails, her work has focused on public opinion about criminal justice institutions and policies in a cross-national context.

Methodologies: Program evaluation, data collection, qualitative methods, quantitative methods, mixed methods

Research areas: Local jails, jail reentry, prisons, prisoner reentry, behavioral health conditions, public opinion; cross-national research

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Jason Trask, M.S.

Strategic Communication Associate

Jason Trask is a Strategic Communication Associate who joined the Justice Research and Statistics Association in October 2000. He has a strong background in training and technical assistance. In addition to his work with the Center for Victim Research, Jason has worked on various data collection and program evaluation projects, including the Weed and Seed Data Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance Center for Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement. He is also the principal investigator for the BJS State Justice Statistics Training and Technical Assistance project. Jason holds a Bachelor of Science in Administration of Justice from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Science in Justice, Law, and Society from American University.

Expertise: Data collection, program evaluation, technology for training & technical assistance, training & technical assistance, strategic communication

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