Grace is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. She earned her M.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland and a B.A. in Neuroscience and Psychology from Smith College, both of which inform her public health perspective in criminological research. Her research centers on rare and sensationalized forms of violence, with a primary focus on school shootings. She examines how the built environment can influence and constrain decision making related to violence and victimization, employing open-source methods to systematically explore the spatial and situational dynamics of these rare violent events. 

Grace currently works with Dr. Bianca Bersani at the Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center (MCRIC). Grace and the research team at MCRIC are building a public facing dashboard that highlights recent trends in public safety in the state of Maryland. She also worked as a research assistant to Dr. Demar Lewis where she evaluated how historical lynching patterns manifest in modern city-level funding and health outcomes.