Policing and Urban Security

Faculty Research Director

Project Team Leads

Shannon Miller

The Data for Peace team is researching questions related to peace and conflict globally. This year, we are conducting two projects concurrently in collaboration with the Government Department’s Politics of Race and Ethnicity Lab. The Data4Peace Policing Project is a new team that began in the fall of 2023. This project investigates the extent to which discrimination affects hiring practices at law enforcement academies in the United States. To investigate this, the group will design and carry out an audit experiment with 681 state and municipal academies around the country. In addition, the team will perform a comparative analysis to see how the demographics of policing academic recruits and graduates in the United States compare to those in other developed and developing countries.

The Urban Transportation Project is a team that started under Data4Peace in the Fall of 2022. In this project, the team analyzes how policing is used as a boundary maintenance strategy between predominantly white and predominantly Black/Latino/Asian or other minority areas. As part of this project, we will also analyze historical data on how transportation networks in Austin, Dallas, and Houston may have exacerbated security and socio-economic challenges, and further contributed to discriminatory patterns of policing. The team has collected public deed records of highway construction areas in three major cities (Houston, Austin, and Dallas) primarily from the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to the deeds themselves, we are working with the County Clerk’s office to obtain plat maps to precisely locate the properties and further analyze a variety of factors at those geographic locations. Thus far, we have collected extensive public deed records surrounding Texas Austin Interstate 35, Houston Interstate 45, and Dallas Interstate 345. Afterward, we plan to code additional cities to account for racial, economic, and structural differences. The aim is to answer three main research questions:
● How does highway construction within U.S. cities differentially affect the long-run economic prospects of underrepresented groups?
● How does highway transportation contribute to neighborhood-level inequality relative to other economic consequences?
● What role does transportation-connected policing play in potentially exacerbating inequality?

Project Team Co-Leads

Shannon Miller

IPD Project Team Leader

Shannon Miller is a Master of Global Policy Studies student at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She is from Kingston, Jamaica, and graduated from the University of the West Indies, Mona with a BSc in Geology and Geography. Her policy interests at the LBJ School of Public Affairs include climate change adaptation, clean energy and decarbonization, ESG strategies, and the confluence of global warming and public health. Her previous research with the Jamaican government, IDB, and CIF produced policies that advanced the design and implementation of climate change adaptation and conservation solutions in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Haley Peck

Research Assistant

Haley Peck is a fourth-year sociology major at UT Austin. Her interests include poverty, inequality, the criminal justice system, race, gender, and theory, among others. Haley has broad research interests within the field of sociology; particularly, the connection between the criminal justice system and homelessness, how race and gender influence marginalization, and the impact of social institutions on behavior and social networks. She aspires to earn a PhD in Sociology and hopes to become a researcher upon completing her education. Outside of her studies, Haley enjoys cooking, reading, and playing with her two cats.

Ella McFarlane

Research Assistant

Ella McFarlane is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is studying Government and Sociology with a minor in Business. This is Ella’s second year in IPD as a member of the Policing and Urban Security team. She also serves as a research assistant to Professor Daron Shaw, currently studying the effect of media inquiries on media published. Ella spends her time outside of school teaching color guard at James Bowie HS. She intends to pursue a Master’s in Public Policy and subsequently a career in national political campaigns.

Nilay Gandhi

Research Assistant

Nilay is a senior majoring in Finance and Government. He’s from Houston, Texas and is interested in domestic and international policy surrounding social issues, specifically including mass incarceration, non-profit policy and action, social impact and business, and global development. His research has previously and currently focused on business regulations, policing, and global development projects.

Julius Maennig

Research Assistant

Julius is a third-year economics major at the University of Texas at Austin, with a minor in business and public policy. His passion lies at the intersection of economics and international affairs, fueled by internships at both startups and global corporations. Beyond academics and work, he finds balance in life through rowing, gaming, hitting the gym, and reading. He’s dedicated to expanding my knowledge, bridging economic theories with practical applications, and pursuing a future that combines my interests in global institutions and economics.

Anderson Lee

Research Assistant

Anderson (Mu-Tse) Lee is a third-year undergraduate Sociology and Economics double major student with a business minor. He is from Taipei, Taiwan, and was raised in Shanghai, China before he came to the University of Texas, at Austin. His research interests include social inequality and social conflict theory. Besides IPD, he is also a TA and the supervisor for the Intramural Basketball League. After his time at UT, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in social inequalities. In his spare time, he enjoys fishing and watching baseball.