This week, as part of our grad life series, we spoke with Chloe Haimson and Stephen Oliphant about their experiences finding, applying, and interviewing for postdoc positions.

Chloe Haimson is Director of Research of the Justice Policy Lab @the Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs at Brown University. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Prison Education Program at New York University where she taught ethnography at Wallkill Correctional Facility. Her current work investigates the decisions parole agents make during their everyday work routines, how these choices influence the trajectories of individuals on parole after prison, and their consequences for the expansion of punishment in the U.S. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022.

Stephen Oliphant is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. He received his PhD in criminal justice from Michigan State University in 2023. His interdisciplinary background includes training in the fields of public policy, criminal justice, and injury prevention. His research is primarily focused on firearm policy and the evaluation of interventions that address firearm injury and violence more broadly.

Justin Pickett is a professor of criminal justice at the University at Albany, SUNY. He received his PhD in Criminology from Florida State University in 2011 and received the American Society of Criminology's Cavan Young Scholar Award in 2015. His research interests include public opinion, survey research methods, theories of punishment, and police–community relations.

Special topics highlighted in this episode include criminological research and public opinion and policing and diversity

Richard Wright retired from the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2014, having spent 30 very happy years there. He then joined the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University as chair, before retiring again in 2021. Wright has published widely in the area of offending decision making, with particular focus on urban street criminals.

Richard speaks to us about his journey into criminology, his work on active offender research, and his thoughts on the field.